


Hetalia: Existence

by jinnocenceph11



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Army, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Inspired by Real Events, Magic-Users, Originally Posted on deviantART, Other, Real People Will Be Involved At Some Point in the Story, Superhuman Powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-13
Updated: 2017-06-06
Packaged: 2018-02-21 00:37:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 38,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2448866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jinnocenceph11/pseuds/jinnocenceph11
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nations, like stars, are entitled to eclipse. All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night. Dawn and resurrection are synonymous. The reappearance of the light is the same as the survival of the soul.-Victor Hugo</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Thanks Himaruya for bringing Hetalia to our lives. Of course, I have no intention of making profit on this. 
> 
> So Enjoy!

"I must hurry! They gotta see this!" An Italian man in a suit excitedly whispers while running in a very wide corridor of an old but prestigious hall. He carries a bag and a folder that contains leads regarding a secret that was hidden to humanity for thousands of years. He also carries a SLR Camera that he uses everyday for his job. 

He is a very busy man. He devoted his very life for this very secret to the fact that he had to left behind his personal happiness for this. It is very evident to his somewhat unkempt hair and also his unshaven facial hair but he has very built body that endured his 22 years of service as an independent journalist and an enthusiastic author of books about hidden history and conspiracy theories. He also served to a worldwide newspaper company wherein he contributes his articles. But sadly he never had any success. The readers easily lacked interest as they never took his claims seriously and as a result no one buys his books nor reads his articles. But he never gave up. Never ever until he got those leads! He traveled the whole world just to get those evidences. Those leads might make him rich, famous and heck it might also win him a Peabody Award1! He had those dreams until now that this might be the realization of it.

He is definitely excited for this as he wanted to show his family, friends, colleagues in the field and eventually to the world what those greedy politicians, royals and nobles had been hiding for thousands of years. For what other purpose aside from the fame, money and a Peabody Award, no one knows for sure.

"GUYS! I HAVE THEM!" The very tired but overly enthusiastic brown haired middle aged man shouts as he hastily opened the door. He still catches his breath as his 3 colleagues turned to him as they are doing they own respective things. 

"Hey! What's the rush old man?! Is that about your _non-sense_ theory again?" A spiky blacked hair guy said to the man while reading a newspaper.

"Oh boy Here we go again" A long brunette hair guy sighed as they will forcefully listen to another of that non-sense. The last time they heard about it was about a couple of days ago but when they asked him where did he got that lead and he said it was from his dreams, they laughed out loud until there is no tomorrow but the old man never gave up _once again_. 

"Don't tell us it was from your dreams again? When will you ever give up" a blond pony tailed woman with glasses giggled as she is thinking of what she has already expecting from what she will hear from the Italian while serving coffee to her two other colleagues.

"These would finally prove my claims! I am _absolutely_ sure of it! Here!" He dropped the folder onto the table and opened it. It contains pictures of both old and new. His colleagues come to the table to inspect the folder. "Hmmmm..." says the blonde as she noticed an old picture dated somewhat during WWII. "These pictures will finally prove that _they_ exist! Take a look at this!" The Italian exclaimed as he points to a slicked back blond hair stoic looking muscular male German in an old group picture of Nazi Soldiers dated during WWII 2. "And this!" he points to same German in a most recent picture during a World Conference in Geneva accompanying Germany's Chancellor3. 

"Huh?! Are you sure it is the same person?!" the spiky haired guy said skeptically as he grabs the 2 photos and observes them. "Mind you, these pictures can be easily photo shopped4." He adds.

"Come on guys?! How can you be so skeptical? Here! Another one!" He now points to the blonde American guy with glasses in another old picture dated sometime during Abraham Lincoln's presidency. Apparently, he was in Lincoln's funeral5. "And here!" he is now pointing to another recent picture with the same American with the current president during his inauguration6. "He is supposed to be dead today! He is living during Lincoln's time and now! How's that possible?"

His colleagues still gives him skeptical look. "Maybe the one with the current president is a descendant of that guy from Lincoln's time" the brunette guy said. The other 2 agrees.

"Ok if you still don't believe me! Take a look at this!" He now points to a beautiful long black haired Asian-looking girl with three jasmine hair clips in another old picture dated somewhat during Philippine-American War7 tending to cure wounded soldiers. "And this!" He again points to the same Filipina in a most recent picture accompanying her country's current president in a meeting in China8. "Isn't she beautiful?" the Italian said as he is blushing while looking to the Filipina's picture.

"It means that my claims of existence of the humanized countries have been true all along!" 

"That maybe so but how can you prove to the whole world about it?" the spiky blacked haired guy named Gio said.

"With this!" a DVD that comes from the Italian's bag now appears.

"And where did you get that?" Rinna, the blond girl, asks.

"I never disclosed my sources especially to you, Tom!" The Italian brags as he clutched the brunette named Tom.

"Hey! And since when did you keep secrets from us old man?"

"Okay... Okay... Let's watch it... So that we could move on to more sensible things..." Gio sighs and he and the other 2 now prepare for whatever non-sense that they will watch as the Italian gets his laptop and opens its power. He will not let this moment pass as he opens the DVD Player in the laptop and inserts the DVD in it. Then as it loads, the wide smile on his face never fades as he now unravels to his colleagues what he thought the video that may change the world forever...

The video shows a conversation between apparently the president of the United States and a man.

"Hey isn't that-?!"

"Shhh!"

As they watch the video, the trio had opened their eyes to the truth. The old man was right all along

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the footnotes:  
> 1\. Peabody Award - Get info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peabody_Award  
> 2\. World War II - since the primary premise of Hetalia itself is about WWII, I added the fact that Germany went war against the Allied Forces.  
> 3\. Chancellor - for those who doesn't know about this, the title Chancellor in Germany is much like the Prime Minister in other countries. For more info, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chancellor_of_Germany  
> 4\. Any photos (old and new) can be easily edited thru a photo editing program.  
> 5\. Funeral of Pres. Lincoln - As we all know, In April 14, 1865, Pres. Lincoln was assassinated while watching a play in Washington DC. That is why the "blond-who-wears-eyeglasses-guy-whom-we-all-know-who" attended his funeral. For more info, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_and_burial_of_Abraham_Lincoln  
> 6\. Pres. Obama's Inauguration - the guys we all know also attended this and of course according to the photo he accompanies Obama to this inauguration. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inauguration_of_Barack_Obama  
> 7\. Philippine-American War - after the Spanish Occupation ended in the Philippines, the Americans came in and it didn't quite go well at first thus this happened. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine-American_War  
> 8\. The state visit of Pres. Noynoy Aquino to China - This happened some time ago to strengthen the bilateral relations between Phils and China. Our dear beautiful Piri-tan is also accompanying our president to that visit (are they dating?) http://www.gmanews.tv/story/231175/nation/phl-china-pnoy-state-visit-a-milestone-in-bilateral-relations :D


	2. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Perla Liwayway is having a long break in Los Angeles from her national duties with her friends... but what lies ahead on her journey?

Arrival Area, Tom Bradley International Terminal1, LAX, Los Angeles, California, USA. 9:15 AM.

"Where on earth did that airplane gone to?!" A blonde American impatiently grumbles as he is waiting for his visitor and looking to his watch after every 2 minutes. "It's supposed to here at this rate!" 

"Shh! I'm looking for it!" replied by a similar looking Canadian who cuddles his very cute polar bear while looking at the arrivals listing to check the status of Philippine Airlines flight number PR 102 that supposed to arrive at 7:01 AM but for some reason it got delayed.

"That's stupid! I'll call my spies!"

"That would not be necessary bro!" the Canadian stopped his American brother from dialing his phone. "And besides Perla told us that her plane has minor technical difficulties and they will have to fix it for an hour."

"But still! It worries me sick!"

"Just eat some burgers bro! That will ease your wor-"

"But I have enough of them! I've already stuffed 5 Big Mac Meals and 5 large cokes!"

"Well then how about some pancakes?"

"Nah I'm not used to your maple syrup bro..."

"Oh really? That's not fair! You always force me to eat your fatty burgers and even pushing it to my mouth until I choked!"

"Hey! Hey now! How could you say that to your bro!" the American grabbed his brother. "No one will take care of you but me!"

"Take-care-of-you-but-me yourself!" the Canadian angrily pulled away from him. "You always give me trouble! Especially whenever Cuba sees me and hits my head as if I am you!"

"Aw come on! Don't be such a drag my dear Matthew!" The American happily consoles to him. "Hey sorry for that bro..." 

"Do I have any choice..." Matthew sighed and then

"Hey hey you!" The polar bear called for his master but 

"Who are you?"

"I'm Canada!" he said and said it many times before as the polar bear named Kumajiro does not remember his master's name and neither does the master to his pet.

"Well let's just wait for her here." the American sighed. "We couldn't do anything to make that flight go faster."

"At last! You have realized that, Alfred!" Matthew happily notes his brother. "Eh? What's that?"

"A banner, so that she could see us easily." A large banner printed the words "THE HERO IS HERE!" in large fonts was taken out from Alfred's bag as he enthusiastically unfolds it.

"Alfred! That's not even necessary! She knows us completely!"

"Come on Mattie! This is the way we greet our visitors!"

"But she visited us a lot of times and you never had a banner like that before!"

"Don't be a kill joy and help me get the flags out of my bag."

"What?! You have flags also?! She's not blind!!"

"Quit complaining! Just get those!"

Matthew sighed "Right" He took out the handy flags from Alfred's bag. There are 4 flags: The US flag, The Canadian flag, The Philippine flag, and The Australian flag.

Matthew remembered that Daniel2 was supposed to be with Perla making rendezvous to Manila and then accompanying her to LA but for some reason his flight got cancelled.

"Dan was supposed to be with Perla." Matthew sadly notes as he hold Australia's flag.

"Yeah. But it's better that he didn't come." Alfred replied as he tied the knots on the banner to the metal bars in front of him.

"Why is that so? Don't tell me-" Matthew suspects of something that his brother feels whenever there are other guys talking to Perla.

"Oh! It's arriving! Here she comes!" Alfred excitedly exclaims after he looked to the arrival list. He doesn't seem to listen to his brother's earlier remark.

The brothers are now getting ready for the arrival of their Filipina friend.

\----------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Perla Liwayway is now relieved that finally she had arrived on her destination safely after so many setbacks on her travel. Her smile is the very evidence of her excitement. She can see her "kuyas" once more. She goes on first before her boss visits US for some engagements but she will not accompany him this time as she is on leave for vacation.

The flight attendant reminded the passengers their safely procedures for landing. She turned off her cellphone for a while as it is not allowed when landing. _Here I come!_ She thought.

_Kuya Australia should be with me but his flight got cancelled for major technical difficulties. Oh what a luck!_ She sighed. _But at least I got to talk to some of my people who will work here._ Another sigh comes. _Hey! No use on sulking. I'm here already!_

She stood to get her hand carries on the luggage rack at the top of their sit. She is sitting in the economy class. As she (im)patiently waits for her turn to get outside of the airplane, she notices a girl accompanying her grandmother to get out of the plane. 

"Lola! Heere we are! Aren't you excited?!" the girl said.

"Yes apo, but my feet is killing me! Nirarayuma na naman ata ako."

"Wag po kayong mag-alala lola! Tulungan po kita." The girl offered her help.

As Perla watches the scene, she smiled and then remembered her time wherein she had a family but it was a very long time ago as she is already living alone. 

_How nostalgic._ She lamented and then closed her eyes.

Then, It is her turn now to get out of the plane and as she goes down to the stairs she felt the cold American wind blown to her face. She is excited once again and goes to the luggage counter to get her remaining baggage and she is now on her way to the arrival area wherein her kuyas are impatiently waiting for her.

"BABE!!!" A voice booms and echoes as she walked towards the arrival area. "THE HERO IS HERE! HAHAHAHA!!"

_What the?!_ Surprise came to her when she saw 2 blond guys in glasses waiting for her waving flags of 3 different countries and a large banner with "THE HERO IS HERE" written in large fonts! The other blond with a bear doesn't seem to be enthusiastic in what he is doing. On the other hand, Perla smiles wider as she excitedly runs over them.

"ALFRED! MATTHEW!" She exclaimed as she hugged both of them. The two blushed. "I MISSED YOU BOTH!"

"Eh?! Both of us? I thought I'm the only one whom you missed!." Alfred complained.

"In your dreams!" The Filipina joked to him with a slight giggle.

"Aww Babe! Don't be like that" Alfred sulked.

Both Philippines and Canada laughed at Alfred.

"You looked great by the way." Matthew complimented the Filipina's white dress that suits her lightly tanned skinned while accessorized with straw hat and her signature three _sampaguita_ 3 hair clips on the right side of her long wavy black hair.

"Thanks Mattie!" She joyously smiled to Canada's personification.

"Hey! Don't take my girl from me!" Alfred is obviously jealous on his brother right now.

"Who says I'm your girl?! I'm nobody's girl!" Perla clarified.

"Babe." The American sulked once more.

"I'm just teasing you" Perla giggled.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing..." She enjoys teasing Alfred whenever they see each other. 

"Kumajiro!! How are you? You are cute as always!" She grabs the pet polar bear of Canada and cuddles it. The bear blushes and slightly suffocates while the Filipina cuddles him hardly.

"By the way, where's Tony?" Perla asks.

"Speaking of that alien, I need to call him right now since you are here now, Babe."

"Is he the one driving?"

"You bet he is!"

"WOW! Are you serious?!" Perla amazed while Canada was not at all.

"Yup! And he gonna take us whenever we want to go!"

"Um I think I'm gonna pass for that" Matthew sadly remarked.

"HUH?!" Both Alfred and Perla were shocked by his reply.

"Hey bro! What's the matter? Are you sick or something?" Alfred interrogates him.

"Yeah Matthew? Is something wrong?" Perla asks.

"Uh Nothing really I'm just tired I just wanted to see you my friend"

"Oh Canada Come on! It will be fun!" Perla insists.

"No thanks really I have some business to do at home. In fact I have a flight later this afternoon to Vancouver."

"Aw You should have scheduled it tomorrow"

"I know but my boss called"

Perla sighed in disappointment. "Oh well not much of a choice don't we. I'll see you around, kaibigan."

"Vous aussi, mon amie" Matthew replied with a smile.

"Ehem! Well enough with goodbyes! Let's go my precious pearl! The car is here! By the way, take care bro!"

"Both of you take care too." Matthew waved goodbye as Alfred gets Perla's luggage in the compartment and goes inside the car. Both of them waved goodbye to Matthew as they embark to the "City of Angels" Los Angeles.

"Well, where are we going?" Perla asks Alfred as she opens the map of LA that she bought back at her home.

"Before that..." He clutches his bag once more and

"For you..." A bouquet of red roses came out of the bag and give to Perla.

Perla blushed and a bit surprised of Alfred's unusual gesture. And she can't hide her happiness for that.

"Wow! How beautiful! Thank you! But how about we go to a hotel first?"

Alfred blushed "R-re-really??!! Th-t-that's fast" He smiled for bad reasons.

"Hey! Don't get the wrong idea, you perv!" Perla reprimands America and slaps the map onto his head.

"Hey! That hurt! I'm not a perv you know! And beside I'm not like France who takes advantage on things." He defends himself.

"Oh really..." the Philippines is still suspecting Alfred with her left eyebrow raised. "And besides I'm still tired on this traveling. A nap helps you know."

"Are we going to share a bed, Babe?"

"NO!" Another slapping of the map to his head came.

"Perla, I'm just kidding you know..."

"Pervert Pervert Jerk" Tony mocks America.

"Not you too, Tony"

"See Tony's agreeing with me." Perla smirked.

"Whatever. Let's just go the hotel nearby." Alfred commands Tony.

"Roger Pervert Jerk" Tony responded.

"Hey stop that!"

Perla couldn't help but laugh on Alfred.

\-----------------------------

The morning sunlight is beaming across a room as a muscular blond man is feeling its warmth and slowly opened his blue eyes. He looked into the clock. It's already 10:08 AM. He woke up unusually late, not that he have some urgent things to do this morning but due to some work that needs to be done the day before. He is done and also passed this to his boss.

His eyes are still heavy but he felt his stomach grumbled. He stood up and goes to the bathroom to slick back his hair and to wash his face. Then, after he changed his clothes from his sando and boxers to his polo and jeans, he goes to the kitchen to see what he can cook for the breakfast. He saw his favorite wurst4 to refrigerator and also some pasta that his friend cooked for him whenever he visits him. The German check if the pasta is already spoiled. And it is He groaned and threw it to the garbage. So he settled himself to his favorite German breakfast: 2 pieces of Brötchen5 (that he baked a day before), butter, hard-boiled eggs and wurst (that he boiled earlier). 

_Ah, what a peaceful day._ He thought while grabbing his sumptuous meal. He is definitely enjoying his very rare breakfast alone. He won't have to yell every time to his very annoying and noisy Italian friend who knows nothing but eating pasta and flirting with girls. It is very peaceful indeed 

Until

"Germany! Germany! I'm here!!" A cheery brunette Italian guy totally interrupts the very rare peaceful moment alone of the German as he excitedly enters his house. Germany's eyes are widened and sighed deeply and as always he has left no choice but to deal with it.

"WHAT IS IT?!" Germany angrily asked Italy (the North to be exact).

"W-why?! I'm j-j-ju-sst visit-ing y-you L-Lu-Ludwig" the Italian frighteningly replied. He is scared by the death glare of the German. 

But Ludwig immediately stops as soon he realizes that there is no one who can understand him better than Feliciano Vargas. "Sorry for that... That was unexpected..."

"No worries my friend!" Feliciano immediately changed his mood. "Oh, I brought you some"

"Pasta, right?"

"Wow!! Are you a psychic or something?"

"No! It's because that's the only thing you brought to me every time!" Ludwig shouts.

"S-so-sorry!!" Feliciano is scared as if he would almost cry whenever Ludwig shouts to him.

Ludwig sighed heavily once again and gets the food from Feliciano.

"Thanks" He stoically said to the Italian.

As he going to put the food in the table, someone knocks the door heavily and the two looked at each other and wandered who is it. 

"Meister Ludwig! Meister Ludwig!" A voice can be heard beyond the door. "P-please open!" *Huff* *Huff* "T-th-there's an emergency!"

As if he recognizes the voice, Ludwig immediately opens the door and there he sees a middle-aged short fat baldy German man in an ordinary clothing gushes in fatigue due to running.

"What is it?" Ludwig was concerned to the guy and he immediately accompanies him inside. "Hey! Get some water for him!" He commanded Italy in which he does. Ludwig, on the other hand, gets some chair and makes him sit there. 

"What is the problem?" The two observed the guy and waits for his response.

"Please! Turn on your television and tune in to CNN! There is an emergency!" 

The two immediately run to the living room to turn on the television and to see what emergency does the old man is talking about

\----------------------------------------------------------

Crowne Plaza Hotel6, Los Angeles, California; 2:25 AM.

Perla woke up slowly but gets up quickly as she realizes the time. She overslept for 15 hours due to non-stop flight that she boarded. Her head feels so heavy but still manage to stretch her light tanned body upward.

Then, she remembered she has to continue her journey. She immediately picks up the phone to call for Alfred who is in a nearby room with Tony. 

No Answer. She sighed as she thought he is still asleep. She realizes that it is too early to go. 

She saw the earlier bouquet of flowers now in a vase. She looked at it and felt guilty and embarrassed on what she did to Alfred and to the fact that she overslept as supposedly they are in Hollywood earlier for the continuation of her trip. 

_I will make it up to him._

She goes to the bathroom first to have a quick shower and then after changing her clothes, she grabs a pack of crackers from her home as she feels her stomach grumbles.

Then, she opened the room's television to check what is happening in her country. She tuned in to a Filipino international channel. 

_For International News: A group of independent journalists in Italy have discovered the alleged existence of personified countries. According to Dr. Luciano Vargas, author of the book entitled "Heart Of A Country", these personified countries are immortals who is living in this planet since time in memorial._

Philippines couldn't listen to the news anymore as she drops the remote and her crackers to the ground and her eyes widened in shock. Her legs are shaking and she kneels out of disbelief.

_What happened? Why? How did he discover us?_

Suddenly, a group of black suited guys with shades stormed inside Perla's room. Everything happens so quickly. They aim her with their guns. She moved backwards as she was still shocked of what is happening now. Then, a bald tall guy in eyeglasses enters the room and he raised his hand to stop aiming at her.

"My lady, you should come with us." The guy calmly said and gives his hand to her.

"Who are you?! What do you want from me?!"

"All you want to do is to come with us. Plain and simple."

"Why should I come with you?!"

"Don't ask just do it."

"Who do you think you are to command me like that?!" 

"Maybe this will make you come with us Ms. Philippines" He then moved aside to give way to another black suited muscular guy who holds an unconscious blond.

"Alfred No way Alfred!! What did you do to him?!" 

"He is too stubborn to come with us and also he fought back against our men to prevent us for coming to your room."

"You bastards!!" She quickly moved towards her bags get her weapon, a couple of Arnis sticks but before she is done they aimed her once again as a threat against her resistance.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You wanted to risk your life just to save someone who is more powerful than you are? Oh! I forgot You're an immortal"

"Why you-!" Before she could attack, she was held by 3 guys to strangle her.

"Let me go!" She struggles to escape as they roped her and one guy puts a handkerchief to her face. Apparently, it contains sleeping powder.

"I said let me go" She slowly closes her eyes while looking at Alfred. She is definitely helpless

_Help me_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes:  
> 1\. TBIT is one of the many terminals of LAX in Los Angeles, California. For the map: http://www.lawa.aero/uploadedFiles/LAX/pdf/TBIT.pdf  
> 2\. Daniel is the name I given for the personification of Australia since in the canon, he is yet to be given a human name by Hima-papa.  
> 3\. Sampaguita is the National Flower of the Philippines. For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampaguita  
> 4\. For APH fans, you know that wurst is the fave food of Ludwig. Wurst is a German delicacy. For more info: http://www.germanfoodguide.com/wurst.htm  
> 5\. Another German delicacy. This bread is best suit to butter and some kinds of wursts. For more info: http://www.germanfoodguide.com/breaddetail.cfm?bread_nr=19  
> 6\. The CPH that I'm refering to is this: http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/crowneplaza/hotels/us/en/los-angeles/laxap/hoteldetail?&externalHotelDetailHit=true
> 
> If you guys noticed, the human name of Philippines that I gave is different from what is common in APH Fanfic. I gave her a more of a "Filipino" name (Although, "Perla" is sort of a Spanish name). :D :D
> 
> Translation notes:  
> 1\. Kuya - Filipino for elder bother.  
> 2\. "Nirarayuma na naman ata ako" - Filipino for "My rheumatism is attacking again"  
> 3\. "Wag po kayong mag-alala lola! Tulungan po kita.” - Filipino for "Don't worry Grandma! I'll help you!"  
> 4\. Kaibigan - Filipino for friend.  
> 5\. “Vous aussi, mon ami” - French for "You too, my friend"  
> 6\. Meister - German for Master.


	3. Isolation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Perla and Alfred have been captured by some unknown men... Can they escape from their captors? Will Alfred be the hero for Perla or someone else will?

Alone... In a very chaotic place...

"Hello!"

"Is anybody here?!"

"Answer me!"

She wanders to a very haunting and destructed place... Everything is empty...

"Alfred?! Matthew?! Daniel?! Where are you?"

She saw nothing but destruction... 

"Why is nobody answering?"

She is very frustrated... Tears are falling in her face... She is helpless... She is hopeless...

"Why..." She is crying for help and she knelt due to her hopelessness...

Then she saw a piece of piercing broken glass...

She picked it up, held it in both hands, aimed the edge against her chest, and

She woke up. 

_What a nightmare!_ Cold sweat is flowing in her face and her heartbeat is getting heavy. _That was scary!_

Then after a few seconds of grasping the reality, she looked to her surroundings. It is still night time. _Where am I? What am I doing here?_

Perla woke up in a dark cell-looking room where her hands are cuffed. Another nightmare comes, this time, it's real.

She wonders why she was there then she remembered the incident happened in the hotel. She was abducted by some mysterious people. 

"Alfred? Alfred!!"

"Hey... Babe..." She turned to her left and saw the blond American weakly answered as he is bruised and unlike her he was immobilized by the chains wrapped all over his body as if he is bound by magic.

Shocked on what she is seeing, Perla's tears slowly fall. Then she leaps to him and then hugs him! 

"Alfred!" She is very happy to see her friend alive. The American felt the heat in his face and smiled.

"I'm sorry... I failed you... I should have-"

"Alfred..." Perla shook her head and smiled. "No need to apologize. I'm just glad that you're alive." She assured her friend for her forgiveness and wiped out her tears.

"Of course I will be! The hero will always get his last laugh! Hahahaha!!" Alfred proudly exclaimed but the Filipina seems to be less than impressed as a sweat drop in her head.

 _And he's back._ Perla narrowed her eyes and sighed.

"Anyways, where the heck are we?!" Alfred complains.

"Don't ask me! I don't know either!" Perla furiously answered.

"Those effin cowards..." America groaned. He tries to get out from his chained situation but the chains are too tight.

"Gah!! If I get out of this, I swear they will never see the sunrise again!"

"Have you watched the news?" Philippines carefully asks.

"Huh? Yeah..." America stares the ceiling and wonders what went wrong while the Philippines contemplates on why the journalists exposed them.

Suddenly, their cell's door opens The men in tuxedo and shades are coming in and also the bald tall guy with eyeglasses.

"How is your stay?"

"IT'S GREAT! IT'S EFFIN GREAT!! Thanks to you I cannot let go from these chains!" America sarcastically answers. _I swear to God I want to kick their ass._

"Good." The guy rides along with Alfred's sarcasm. "How about you, my lady?"

Perla didn't answer and instead looked to her right.

"Good I suppose." He calmly answers.

"Where is this place, you sucker?!" Alfred mockingly asks.

"Well, what do we have here? Roberto?" A regal-looking man comes & this time he is a very big and tall bearded man with strong features.

"Maestro Umberto! What brings you here?" 

"I'd like to see what have you _collected_ for me and they look _nice_." The Umberto guy glared with an evil smile to both Philippines and America.

Alfred grinned while Perla shocked to what she has heard.

"Where the heck are we, you spineless coward jerk?!"

"Oh Sorry about that I haven't introduced this place for you to enjoy your nice vacation here"

He paused for a while and then... "Welcome to my precious palace! HAHAHA!! The den of all my lifelong collections that I and my men have gathered!"

Alfred makes a WTF face to the guy while Perla makes a blank and idealess face

"What collections are you talking about?" Alfred is curious (and investigative).

"What collections you say?!" Umberto laughs loudly at Alfred's seemingly stupid curiosity.

"My dear, of course! The 4 Gs!" The man shows a 'four' from his hand.

"The 4 Gs?" Perla is also curious. _I think I heard it somewhere at my home._ "Is that a dietary supplement?"

Umberto also laughs to Perla's question. "What dietary supplement?!" Alfred also gazed at his friend seemingly from Perla's out of this world and out of topic question.

"Ah! Those are my _dietary supplements!_ "

"GOLD!"

"GOBLET!"

"GUERILLA!"

"and the most important G of them all" He comes to Perla and touches her face. Perla is annoyed on the man's gesture. "GIRLS!" He stares to her as if he is going to do something bad against her. Perla widened her eyes in shock.

"Don't lay your effin finger on her! YOU BASTARD!!" Alfred struggles to let get go from his chains. 

"How dare you to address Maestro Umberto like that?!" A subordinate and the others aimed a gun on Alfred. He is still grinning his teeth from his anger.

Umberto laughs on Alfred and waved his hand to the subordinate as if he is saying to stop aiming. 

"How did you know about our whereabouts? Or should I ask How did you know about us?" It's Perla's turn to investigate.

"How did we know? Simple! We have spies everywhere! We have intelligence!" Umberto proudly answers. Perla and Alfred were surprised.

"We have men following you everywhere."Roberto is beginning to explain things. "We have gathered intelligence on your whereabouts from reliable sources." 

"We are actually planning to kidnap the Philippines alone. But since you are with her, we have to take the opportunity to get the biggest fish of them all." Roberto added.

"What do you want from us? Why did you capture us? What purpose do you have?" Perla took charge on investigating.

"People like you are immortal, right?" Umberto smiles evilly again. Perla and Alfred again stunned to his remark.

"No, we're not! We are just ordinary citizens of our country, you dumbass!" Alfred mockingly replies.

"Don't be ridiculous, my dear _Stati Uniti_  Do you think we don't watch news? Every news channel and publications have news about all of you, the greatest discovery of the 21st century and the greatest fraud of the human race!!"

"So, you want to be an immortal?" Perla is getting well in investigations.

"OF COURSE! Who wouldn't?" Umberto loudly laughs "But what makes you an immortal?" He snaps his fingers in his right hand and a subordinate comes in with a small chest-looking box in a small violet pillow.

Umberto gets the box and slowly opens it. And then, a small circular diamond-like gem appears with a heraldic-looking emblem engraved inside of it. The emblem seems to be fading that is why it is unclear what nation it is but the crystal is shining and sparkling.

Both Perla & Alfred can't help but open their mouths in shock. The crystal seems to be important for them Both also are shaking in horror in what they are seeing right now.

"This is what makes you alive, right?" Umberto roaring evil laugh is spreading through the halls of that prison. "Your very life force! The very reason of your existence!"

"Where did you get that sovereignty gem?!" Alfred's anger intensifies more. "Whose nation did you kill to get that?!"

"Ah this I get it from a boy who wants to be a nation so badly! I said that I will make him a nation if he comes with us! What a foolish boy! Now, as Roberto said, I only intend to get the Philippines' gem but since I got you, Mr. America, once I get yours, I will be the most powerful man in this planet! And this makes it my 5th G! GEM! The grandeur of immortality is finally here" Umberto greediness is totally getting over him as he looked up and laughed as long as his breath can handle.

Alfred couldn't contain is anger by grinning his teeth harder while Perla seems to be speechless but there are still questions that she wanted to ask. Something is bothering her more

"How do you know that I am Philippines?" She gathered her strength to ask that.

"As I have said we have information about you from reliable sources. And when we say reliable sources, it is from the people you serve. We took advantage of their greed and got information from them for a price." Roberto slightly narrows his eyes and glances to her.

Perla couldn't help but feel the weakness from all of her body as she cannot believe anything that she heard from Roberto. There really people who will do anything in the name of money even sell indirectly their own nation's personification and the worst, kill them to get their desired immortality. It is one of her daily and major problems back at home but she wouldn't think that the cancer is already severely damaging her own integrity. 

Alfred can't fathom anymore of what he is seeing right now. He may be one of the densest personifications but certainly not the most insensitive as he have strong feelings of justice in his heart. Justice that he took care for more than a couple of hundred of years ago after the American Revolutionary War. But his feeling of justice is stronger than ever or is it more than that as he deeply cares for the woman in front of him ever since he took her from Antonio to his house. He couldn't take it. He must do something to save his damsel, to be the hero like the ones in the comics from his home, to be the hero that he always claims to the world and most importantly, to be the hero that she will marry like in the fairy tales that Arthur told him when he was a kid.

"YOU!! How could you I'll never forgive you" Alfred is slowly standing up even though he is chained. Umberto, Roberto & Perla are widened their eyes to see the American standing 

"I'll never forgive you on hurting other people just to get what you want!"

"I'll never forgive you on what did to the boy who you only kill just to satisfy your greed!"

"And most of all..."

"I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU ON HURTING MY GIRL!!!" 

"BECAUSE"

"I AM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!"

A sudden surge of strength is released as Alfred breaks all the chains in an instant! A murderous intent emerges in his eyes! Umberto can feel his rage and if a while ago his greed and pride outmatches Alfred's, now he and all of his men succumbs to fear. He now realizes that the biggest fish that he captured becomes the wildest beast he couldn't imagine seeing. 

Perla widened his eyes more and more stunned to see her friend right now. The last time she saw him like that was in World War II. She can feel his tremendous energy as her whole body is shaking in his might until she can't handle it.

"TAKE THIS!" Upon his rage, America smashes his fist to the ground then the earth crumbles and the building is collapsing. Only Perla and Alfred's position is unaffected.  
Due to this, Many of Umberto's men fell to the strength of the superpower nation including Roberto.

Umberto couldn't believe in anything he sees. He gets more than what he wished for. His eyes widened in fear.

"W-what are you spineless cowards waiting for! Shoot him!" Umberto commands his men. The survivors picked up their guns and ammunitions and then shoot the rain of bullets to Alfred. 

But

"I-i-it d-didn't work!!" The men are showing signs of defeat. Alfred, due to his might, catches all the bullets just like the hero in the red cape that he reads in comics at his home. "Are you tickling me?"

"T-the missile launcher! HURRY!" his men quickly get the weapon and aims to America.

"FIRE!" He quickly commands. The missile quickly launches and bombards Alfred & Perla's position. She feels the fear as the missile quickly comes to them.

"AHHH!!" Perla shouts in fear.

The missile explodes, the place is slightly falling apart and Umberto assumes that they've been hit as the smoke covers the whole place.

"HE'S DOWN!! HAHAHAHAHA!!" Umberto exclaims as he felt the joy of victory but little did he know as the smoke disperses

Alfred held the crushed missile in his hands

"Is that a missile? What a crap!"

Umberto, once again, widened his eyes in disbelief. All of his men are running for their lives. He thought he can get the sovereignty gem of the one of the greatest nations in the world. He thought he can now conquer the world in ease. His dreams of paradise easily crushed. 

But he has still one card left. He is now desperate.

"You thought you have won already, _Stati Uniti_."

"What do you mean by that, you greedy jerk?"

Umberto chuckles evilly. "I still got this." He still holds the sovereignty gem that he got.

Alfred widened his eyes as the villain slowly tightened his grip to the gem

"The boy is still alive If you want him to live that badly, you'll give me your gem! Or I'll crush this!"

Alfred is now in the brink of the dilemma.

"Oh I thought you're the hero! You think you can save everyone in your senseless heroic antics! In your dreams, my boy! So give it to me! GIVE IT!"

America strength is waned as his fear conquers him. He can't handle the pressure of his dilemma. _What should I do? Crap! Alfred, you're the hero here!_ Then he notices something.

"Do you know what thing that makes a hero?" Alfred asks Umberto.

"Heh! What is it?"

"His sidekick!!"

Suddenly, something hit Umberto's head very hardly. A pair of thick handcuffs strikes his head from above.

"My paradise" Umberto slowly loses his consciousness and he dropped the gem but Alfred catches it.

The villain has fallen. The "sidekick" turns out to be the shining and beautiful Filipina girl, who immediately after she attacks Umberto, shows a very determined and brave face that made the American admire her more. The handcuffs due to his hard head were crushed in turn.

"So, I am just a sidekick now, huh?" She narrowed her eyes and raised her eyebrow.

"Hahahaha!! Well, you're too strong to be a princess, you know?"

Perla giggled and blushed to America's remark. "Is that so? Well, as for you, you're too confident to be a hero."

"But of course! Remember what I told you earlier?"

"Huh? What is it?"

"The hero will always get his last laugh!"

"Oh right even if you're not the one who finishes your job?" Perla raised her eyebrow again.

"Of course! Whatever the sidekick does, the credit always goes to the hero!" Alfred boasts.

"Don't be ridiculous. You almost pee your pants when that guy threatens to crush that gem."

"Hey! Don't say that, babe! It's embarrassing" Alfred sulks in shame.

Perla laughs at Alfred.

All of a sudden, the gem that Alfred holds shines brightly and slowly ascends.

"It is thanking us" Perla remarked.

"Yeah" Alfred responds.

In a blink of an eye, the gem flies like a shooting star. The two nations watch the gem's flight to the heavens and smiles.

Unnoticed, Roberto got up slowly in the rubbles and gets his knife from his pocket.

"You. Your victory ends here!" He raises his knife and is going to attack Perla from behind His speed is peeking. He is ready for the kill.

"DIE!"

Perla looks from behind and sees the bald guy going to attack her. She is too late to react. Her eyes widened.

"PERLA!" Alfred is going to save her but

A sudden gunfire shoots. Its roar can be heard all over the place. It all happened too fast. 

Roberto was hit in the head despite his speed. He almost got Perla but failed. He is now falling to the ground.

Perla felt the blood from Roberto's head splashed to her left cheek. She looked to her left to see who shot Roberto. What she saw was a fully geared tall SWAT guy, who still holds his rifle and still aims to the now fallen Roberto, comes from an open pathway. Then, he holds down his weapon and slowly removes his face shield, then his combat helmet, and finally his bulletproof goggles.

She widened her eyes in shock to the man who revealed his identity in front of her.

"You are Germany?" She sees a slicked back blond who she familiar of. Her brown eyes met his stoic but beautiful blue eyes.

"Germany!! What are you doing here?!" Alfred questions Germany. For all people to appear to help them, it had to be his former rival.

"I'd like to see if the rumors are true that America has been kidnapped, it appears to be true." Germany mockingly sighed.

"Hey! What do you mean by that?! I was going to save Perla before you interrupt me, you sausage-brain loser!" Alfred mockingly responds.

"Well, you were too slow. Perhaps your burger-brain cannot respond quickly." Ludwig calmly mocks America again.

"What did you say?!" As the two great former rival nations, still hold their grudges of the past and glaring at each other with sparks colliding, Perla is still in awe and still cannot recover from the fact that someone who is not that close to her, saved her. But she snaps herself mentally to reality to ask something to that man.

"U-um H-how did you know that we are here?" She nervously asks Ludwig as she knows that he is not that approachable when comes to people not that close to him.

"Hm?" Ludwig faces her (while totally ignoring America) to answer her question. She is totally mesmerized by the eyes of the German.

"We were contacted by my boss to help~" 

"GERMANY! GERMANY!" A voice suddenly booms in the destructed room.

All three of them saw a skinny brunette Italian guy (with sort of an ahoge on the right corner of his hair) also in a SWAT uniform waving at them.

"Where's the enemy?" He looks to every direction.

"WHY ARE YOU HERE, YOU USELESS IDIOT!!?" Ludwig shouts at Feliciano, as usual.

"I-I-I'm j-ju-just here to h-help!" Italy frightened to the core. 

"Didn't I tell you to stay at my house?!"

"I-I'm sorry... But I wanted to help you, Ludwig. Remember our promise?"

"It would've been helpful if you stayed! And besides, the fighting is already done!"

"Hahahaha!! There goes his weak point!" Alfred exclaims.

Then, somebody called to Ludwig's communicator device.

"Alright. We will be there."

"What is it?" Alfred asks.

"Let us get out of here. Everything is done. All of those involved have taken into custody. You'll be safe by now." Ludwig responds as he looks to the Philippines.

"Glad to hear that." Perla smiled.

Then Ludwig suddenly looks away to Perla and blushed.

"T-T-there's a helicopter nearby. That will get us out here."

"At last, we're going home! Hahahaha~" America excitingly announces.

"No, we are not." Ludwig cuts America's excitement.

"Huh?! Why is that?" Perla wanders to his abrupt announcement.

"Our bosses were asked by the United Nations to gather all of us, personifications, in one place."

"And where is that?" Alfred asks.

"I don't know yet. We will find soon enough once our helicopter drop us there."

Philippines and America are now more confused on the German's news. They are now walking towards to where the helicopter is waiting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some notes:  
> 1\. For the "4G" thing - it is a dietary supplement made from 4 herbs that starts with G. It is made in the Philippines. For more info: http://www.pinoypride.net/video/65788/Pretzels-TVC
> 
> As for the what the "sovereignty gem" may look like: Imagine, a country's national emblem/coat of arms is engraved or drawn inside at the center of the gem. The gem's appearance & shape will vary from nation to nation. It contains a nation's unique powers, like for instance, Alfred's superhuman strength and Ludwig's eagle eye accuracy. (As for Perla, Feli, and the others, we will see them in the next chapters to come.) It also changes color whenever they are feeling emotions.
> 
> You may wonder who the boy that they are talking about but you could've have guessed it already...
> 
> I would like to thank everyone who have put time in reading my works and in putting them in their favorites. And also I apologize if these chapters are too long to read, I hope you understand as I want to give more "visual" thing to it as I can.
> 
> Feel free to put any comments, suggestions and reactions to my works. I fully appreciate them.
> 
> So, Here it is again! Enjoy! :) :D


	4. Hidden Threat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Perla and Alfred were saved by Ludwig (and Feli). Perla has after thoughts on why Ludwig saved them. What could be the reason?

Confusion still stirs on the thoughts of Perla as she walks in a grassy field with Alfred, Ludwig and Feliciano but the helicopter seems to be far from where they are. 

Ludwig is focusing on his mission as he leads the way.

Alfred, who is behind Ludwig, is still groaning that the German "stole" his hero moment for saving Perla and keeps on glaring to him.

Perla, who follows Alfred, is looking at the back of Ludwig. She is trying to figure out all things that happened a couple of hours ago. 

_Why would the United Nations wanted to gather all the personifications in one place?_

_Is it connected to the incident that happened just a few hours before or is it rather connected to the news that is spreading like wildfire in the world?_

Perla wanted to ask Ludwig all of these but she thought that he won't know for sure as he is only informed about their sudden isolation. But aside from these, there is something that bothers her more...

_Bakit niya ako niligtas?_

She wanted to ask him but the words won't come out on her mouth as she continued to glance the back of the German with these thoughts continue to bug her mind. But she has to distract herself as she doesn't have the courage out of shyness to the German to ask these things. She looked to Feliciano instead who is at her back...

"Feli!! I missed you!" She exclaimed as she hugged him.

"Ve~ Perla!" He cheerfully hugged her back. "Why didn't you talk to me earlier? I'm here the whole time, you know." 

"Eh? Ummm.. I.. Uhh.. I-I'm very sorry, Feli, but I got distracted to these sudden events. I-I hardly noticed you." She is clutching her face while she saying that.

"Wha-! Perla! Why?!" Feli is a bit disappointed to his friend. He was about to cry.

"I'm very sorry! I-I don't mean to ignore you! It's just that these things happen so fast... Please forgive me..."

"Of course I forgive you!" He said it in a beaming conviction and thumbs up to her. "I will never have any bad feelings to a woman!" 

"Wow... You're so sweet as always, _kaibigan_..." She smiled to Feliciano.

"Of course! That's how we, Italians, are!"

Perla giggled to Feli's proud remark. Little did they know they are far behind Ludwig and Alfred.

"Hey Babe! You're being too slow! Let's get going!" Alfred shouts from afar.

"Oh! Sorry! We're coming!" Perla shouts back.

"If you two gonna chit chat there, I'm gonna ditch you both!" Ludwig reprimands them both.

Perla's a bit shocked.

"A-aye! Captain!" Feli replies and follows Ludwig's orders.

"Right..." Perla weakly replies while slightly frowns and continues walking.

"Hey! Don't say that! And who are you to boss us around?!" Alfred complains to Ludwig's authoritative tone.

"Be thankful that I'm helping you here!" Ludwig glares back to Alfred.

"Who needs your help anyway?! You stole my hero moment!" It started another argument between the two as sparks colliding once again as they glare each other.

"U-um... Ssh-should we keep going? T-the helicopter is w-waiting, r-right?" Perla is trying to stop the two super nations glaring in front of her as she and Feliciano comes to them.

"Right. We should keep going." Ludwig turned to her and responded.

"Hey! We're not done ye-"

"Alfred! Stop that! We should continue walking, shall we?" Perla scolds Alfred.

"Alright... If you say so, babe..."

So the four resumes walking to their destination...

But Perla still wants answers to the questions she wanted to ask. But she thought if she cannot get them from Ludwig, she may still get them from his closest friend, Italy Veneziano.

"U-um... Feli... I wanted to ask you something."

"Ve? What is it, _mia amica_?"

"Um... How did you and Ludwig know what happened to us?"

"Oh that! I'll be glad to tell you!"

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

A day ago at Germany's home

Ludwig's eyes are widened... That was the most horrible news that he ever heard since the end of World War II...

The middle-aged servant of Ludwig couldn't do anything but to feel pity to his country's personification. He remembered the time that Ludwig moved to their village (which that was 1 year and 4 months ago). He is already aware of Ludwig's true identity as he was a retired low ranked military officer from long time ago. He knows the consequence of the spreading the news as few people are still bitter (especially the Jews) to the cruel events of the war.

Feliciano meanwhile couldn't believe what he has heard. But he feels more worried to Ludwig than to himself and to his older brother, Lovino as their boss never mind them due to their uselessness.

Suddenly, Ludwig's mobile phone breaks the silence in the room as it rang. He picked it up from the living room table. It was his boss, The Chancellor.

" _Ja, Frau Bundeskanzlerin?_ "

Another long strings of silence occurred as Germany is listening to his boss.

" _Was?! Philippinen und Amerika entführt wurden?!_ " Ludwig shockingly shouts.

Feliciano saw the servant jaw dropped from what they heard from Ludwig. He is rather confused because he slightly understands the language. What he only understands is the word "Amerika". He wasn't sure if the word "Philippinen" refers to the Philippines.

" _Ist das nicht gegen das Völkerrecht?_ "

Then, another long silence comes...

" _Es ist selbstverständlich._ " He hanged the phone.

" _Meister_... It is a big trouble."

"A big trouble indeed." Ludwig heavily sighed.

"Germany... Who is it?" Feliciano curiously asks.

"It was my boss. She told me another horrible news."

Germany paused for a while. Feliciano is waiting his response.

"Philippines and America got kidnapped."

"WHAT?!!" Feliciano stunned to Ludwig's news. He is now shaking in fear. "W-What should we do?"

"She ordered me to assist the US Army with our forces to rescue those two. They surely know where they are."

"Can I go with you? Can I? Can I?" Italy enthusiastically proposes.

"NO YOU'RE NOT!!" Germany loudly declines.

"Why?! You're gonna leave me here?! It's too scary here! I don't want to be alone!" Italy is shaking in fear.

"It's more dangerous there! And besides you will be picked up here by some of soldiers to get you somewhere safer."

"But-"

"No buts! You will stay here!"

Italy is clearly disappointed in his friend. 

_Does he remember our promise? I want to help him. He is surely in trouble for all of this._

"Another thing, eventually all us personifications will be gathering in one place. The soldiers will take you there. We shall meet there, understood?"

"Yes..." Italy weakly replies.

"I shall be preparing by now." Ludwig turns to his servant. "I shall leave the rest to you. I would like to give you my whole hearted thanks."

"Ah! You don't have to say that. I'm fully honored to serve you, Meister."

"Well, Italy, _Bis später_!"

\----------------------------------------------------

"Oh... So that's... what happened..." Perla responds weakly.

"Yup! That's how we end up here!" Feliciano sums up the story happily.

"Wait a minute! If Mr. Germany is the one tasked to rescue us, then why are you here?" Philippines bluntly asked Feliciano.

"After Ludwig left the house, I begged his servant help me get here. So he gave me these." He is referring to his SWAT uniform he is currently wearing. "Then, I sneaked to one of the helicopters."

"So that's how it was then, huh?" Ludwig stopped for a while then turned to Feliciano. "Now I know why our soldiers back there are wondering where you are, YOU _DUMMKOPF_!!"

"W-why?! I-I'm only here to help." Feli once again is shaking from the German's anger and hides behind Perla.

"H-hey! Stop that Mr. Germany! You shouldn't get angry to him! He came here to support you, you know?!" Perla intervenes as things get a little bit worse.

"Don't interfere! I'm lecturing him!"

"You know him better than the most of us! So you shouldn't blame him for that! You should be grateful to him. He helped you in the best way he can." Perla bravely faces him as she tries to get Ludwig understand the situation.

Ludwig meanwhile is a bit shocked to Perla's actions. He saw a beautiful and determined woman lecturing him about dealing with his best friend's uselessness. He is somewhat admire Perla for that.

"Y-you're right. I-I'm very sorry, Italy. And thank you." Ludwig is blushing while he is saying that.

"No worries, my friend! You can always count on me as always!" Italy happily forgives his friend.

Perla smiles on what she is seeing.

"Hahahahaha! You got schooled by my girl here! Hahahaha!!" Alfred mocks Ludwig as he pats Perla's shoulder.

"Alfred... Behave..." Perla turned to him as Alfred is at her back and glares him.

"Arf! Arf! Yes Ma'am! Arf! Arf!" Alfred is acting like a dog while Perla pats his head.

"By the way, we are near to our destination. We should resume our walk." Ludwig reminds his companions.

"Alright! Let's go everyone! Follow my lead! Hahahaha!!" America is trying to lead the way.

"Hey! Wait a minute! I'm in charge here!" 

Alfred is not listening to Ludwig's corrections as he goes on leading the pack. Ludwig facepalms and sighs heavily. He gave up and follows suit as well as Perla and Feliciano.

Then, after a few minutes of walking....

"We are here." Ludwig announced as they finally saw a military helicopter and its pilot and another soldier waiting for them.

"At last! We're here finally! Hahahaha!" Alfred excitedly exclaims and runs to it.

"Yay!" Feliciano is also excited does the same as Alfred.

The soldiers salute Ludwig for his arrival and he salutes back.

Perla is relieved finally as all of them can get out of that place and end her nightmare with a bit of a happy ending. But she wanted to tell something to Ludwig.

"Um... M-Mr. Germany..." Perla stops to Ludwig to say something.

"Hm?" Ludwig turns to her.

"T-thanks for rescuing us. I'm in your debt."

"D-don't thank me. I'm just doing my duty." He turns away from Perla and blushes.

"The more that I should thank you." Perla insists and smiles. She wanted to shake his hand as her hand is shaking in nerves. Ludwig meanwhile turns again to Perla and saw her gesture. He is quite unsure what to do.

"R-right..." Ludwig blushed in hearing her words. He shakes her hand nervously. As she is done talking to him and turns back, Ludwig wants to tell her something "By the way..."

"Yes?"

"U-Uh... If you don't mind, just call me Ludwig. And also drop the 'Mr.'" Ludwig shyly said as he clutches his finger to his face and blushes.

"Um... Sure! I'll take note of that, L-Ludwig." She nervously says this as she is not used to call him that. She might mispronounce his name or forget to drop the 'Mr.' that might make him angry.

_Am I that scary?_ Ludwig thought as he notices Perla's uneasiness.

"I'm sorry again for what I did earlier, Ms-"

"It's Perla. If it's okay..."

"Of course, Perla. I'm sorry again."

"You don't need to apologize, actually. I understand that. You are only concerned to Feli as I have known." She waves her hand as a sign of forgiveness on her part.

"Right..."

"Hey! Hey! Aren't we supposed to get ready for our departure?" Alfred suddenly cuts their conversation. He is beaming as usual.

"Ah! Yes, I believe we should get ready." Perla agrees and smiles.

"Agreed." Ludwig seconded and sighed.

Then, Alfred and Perla are ready to board the helicopter. In Alfred's thought however is a lot uneasy when he sees some guy talks to Perla. He had enough competition with Spain, England, South Mexico, even his brothers Australia and Canada, and a lot more as his competitors to her affection. Although a lot of these alleged competitors are mere rumors, still he doesn't want any guy nation to be near his Perlas ng Silangan.

And Germany is also one of them...

The helicopter is now ready to take off. "Sir, everything's ready." The soldier informed Ludwig.

"Alright." He acknowledged. "Everyone, get inside the helicopter!"

Perla boarded first with the assistance of the soldier and sits to the seat behind the pilot, followed by Feliciano who sits in opposite of Perla, then Alfred who sits beside her, then Ludwig beside Feliciano and finally the soldier who tasks as an assistant to the pilot. They wear their respective helicopter helmets.

It is starting to take off... The four nations brace themselves for the moment of their lives as they will embark on someplace unknown to them.

"It feels like 'Survivor', Babe! I'm kinda excited! Yeah!" Alfred enthusiastically tells Perla.

"Don't say that! It's kinda scary..."

"Don't worry Babe! I'll protect you..." Alfred pats her shoulder. "...as a hero should be! Hahahaha!!"

Perla giggled and blushed to Alfred's remarks. "Well, I'm looking forward to it. Just don't overdo it next time, alright?"

"You better watch that out my precious pearl!" America thumbs up in order to make him cool in front of Perla.

She laughed to her friend's doing. 

Feliciano on the other hand is amused to the Filipina and American's gesture.

Ludwig meanwhile is dumbstruck from what he is seeing. But, he understood it as America and Philippines are close friends and he thought it is what close friends should do as what he read from a very 'reliable' book about making friends. Suddenly, he remembered the time that he and Feliciano made a similar promise to each other sometime in World War II. He smiled and turned to him. He finally appreciates his friend's coming to his aid.

"Ve? What's the matter, Ludwig?" Feliciano wonders why he is smiling to him.

"A-Ah! Nothing! I just remembered something..."

"What is it? Come on, Ludwig, tell me! Tell me!"

"I-It is nothing, really..." Ludwig is blushing and turned to his left due to embarrassment.

"Ve? Come on! Say it! Say it!" Italy is persistent.

"I SAID IT IS NOTHING! CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND!" His outburst can be heard even the helicopter starts.

"W-why?!" Italy again is shaking and almost cries. He jumped to Philippines' lap to find comfort.

"L-Ludwig! Stop that!" Perla reprimands Ludwig.

"A-ah.... Sorry for that.. again..." Ludwig chose to stay quiet for the rest of their journey.

"Hahahaha!! There goes again his weakness! Did you see that, Babe?"

"You too, Alfred..." Perla glares Alfred for his comment.

"Babe... I'm just sayin'..." Alfred too chose to stay quiet.

"Now, Now, Feli... Its over..." Perla hugs Feli and pats his head.

"Vee~" Feli now finds comfort (especially on her normal sized breast).

"You guys, ready?" the pilot asks.

"Yes, we are." Perla responds.

The helicopter is now taking off. Perla's mind is full of confusion on what the heck is happening. But still, she feels safer, for now....

They are on way now to a place unknown to the four nations.

\-----------------------------------------

Dark clouds continue to dim the throne room of an unknown castle. Only lightning illuminates it.

"So, Umberto failed to retrieve the gem, huh?" a long silver haired man with blue eyes in a very regal clothing sitting in a gold plated throne receives news from his servant.

"Yes, my sire. He is such a fool! He let his own ambitions get the best of him!" A muscular bald guy with scary features in a suit speaks.

"I never expect him to succeed anyway." He holds a glass of wine from his hand and sips.

"Yes, you have a point. He is just a Joker anyway."

"Well, I believe you have a plan."

"Of course, I do, my sire!"

"Good. As expected from a Limea."

"Nothing to fear, my sire! I'll get your gems for our 'goal'"

"Yes, of course! I don't care how you get them. Just do it."

"Yes, my sire!" He salutes by clasping his left hand and putting it across his right shoulder.

The man exits the room hurriedly as the silver haired man smiles evilly. 

_Those pesky nations will know their end..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The four nations are now going to an unknown place... Hmmm.... Where did they gathered all the nations? That's for us to find out...
> 
> Translation Notes:  
> 1\. Bakit niya ako niligtas? (Tagalog/Filipino) - Why did he saved me?  
> 2\. Kaibigan (Tagalog/Filipino) - Friend  
> 3\. Mia amica (Italian) - My friend (feminine)  
> 4\. Ja, Frau Bundeskanzlerin? (German) - Yes, Madam Chancellor?  
> 5\. Was?! Philippinen und Amerika entführt wurden?! (German) - What?! Philippines and America was kidnapped?!  
> 6\. Ist das nicht gegen das Völkerrecht? (German) - Isn’t that against international law?  
> 7\. Es ist selbstverständlich (German) - It is understood.  
> 8\. Meister (German) - Master  
> 9\. Bis später! (German) - See you, then!
> 
> Some Notes:  
> 1\. Survivor - I know you guys know this, but for others it is an American Reality Show where contestants are isolated in the wilderness and compete for cash and other prizes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor_(TV_series)  
> 2\. If you are wondering what is the meaning of "Limea", it is some sort of ranking of that hideous organization. It has connections to playing cards. Limea was derived from the Tagalog/Filipino word "Lima" which means "five".
> 
> Thanks so much for spending your time reading my fanfics! Any comments, suggestions and reactions is highly appreciated!
> 
> (Apologies in advance for my crappy German... :( )
> 
> Enjoy! :)


	5. Gathering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The four nations are now going to a secret location... What lies ahead and how will this journey will change their ever immortal lives?

As the helicopter continues flying in a shady night, the four nations are anxious to where their destination will be. Only the pilot and his assistant know where it is.

Ludwig never asked the soldiers where they will be going to as he thought even if he asked for it, they will never tell him. It was according to orders and he respects that.

Perla is nervous on what will happen to them after they arrive. But part of her is excited to see her siblings and her friends after a long time due to her work.

Alfred is still thinking about on how to get an edge against his competitors for Perla. But aside from that, he thinks also on how he will make a 'cool' entrance and 'cool' stories about prior events without looking like a loser especially on how he 'almost' saved Perla. He suddenly groaned when he remembered of his stolen hero moment.

Feliciano is thinking about... Pasta... He is surely hungry for all of that. As a matter of fact, his stomach is grumbling and he feels weak.

Fear. Excitement. Uneasiness. Confusion. These emotions surely dominating their shaky hearts...

Whatever's in store for them later lies after their arrival to that destination. After all, their very own existence is at risk and at the very least, the United Nations surely has plans.

"Ve~! Look guys!" Feliciano sees an island with a large mountain peaking in it as the helicopter slowly descends

"Wow! It's beautiful!" Perla was simply amazed in just seeing the island as it has very lush green trees that add its beauty.

"'Survivor'! Here we come!" Alfred exclaims.

"This isn't some reality show, you _dummkopf_!" Germany reprimands America again.

"Hah! You're just envious because my reality TV shows are way better than yours! Besides you just copied it from us! Hahahaha!" Mockery is the name of the game for these 2 rival nations.

"Hmph! Yours are not even the original of those shows! Don't forget! You've only stole them from England!" Ludwig mockingly notes

"Hey Dude! Don't accuse me on that! I bought those rights from him, you sausage-freak! And besides 'Survivor' belongs to us!"

Death glares continue to flame up their anger to each other until...

"WHOA!" A turbulent wind suddenly blown violently to the helicopter. 

"Please be care-" The assistant pilot stops himself, widens his eyes and drops his jaws on whatever he saw.

"Aww..." Perla pats her head and trying to recover from stumbling due to that turbulence. "Are you hurt? Feli?" 

"A bit, _mia amica_." Feliciano pats his face.

"How about..." She weakly paused as she and Feliciano turns to their left...

"WAAH!!" Both of them exclaims as they saw the two great rival nations...

inadvertently kissing each other...

on the lips...

"HEY YOU SAUSAGE-F**K*R! DO YOU WANT ANOTHER WORLD WAR HUH?!!" America rages as he and Ludwig release themselves from the shame that both of them accidentally done and blushes in embarrassment.

"YES! AND I WANT IT NOW!!" Ludwig ragingly responds and he too blushes out of embarrassment

"TAKE THIS!!!" Both of them shouted as America and Germany are going to punch each other's faces.

The two of them are hitting each other and is causing a ruckus. The impact causes the helicopter to shake.

"S-sirs! P-please calm down! W-we're g-going to arrive t-there shortly." The pilot nervously attempts to pacify things but the two seems to be more eager to fight each other more than ever before.

"Oh what a waste! I didn't bring a camera! Sis Hungary should be happy to see that!" Italy excitingly says as he remembers Elizabeta as a certified fujoshi.

"What... did... you... say....?" The two violently turns to Italy.

"Wah!!" Feliciano again is terrified and is going to jump to Philippines but... "Per...la?"

The Philippines has fainted and has seemed like soulless. She was truly shocked on what she saw.

Italy now fears for his life...

"P-please don't hurt me! I-I'm just a useless idiot! I retract what I said!! I beg of you PLEASE!!"

The two still violently stares at Italy... But when the two saw Perla unconscious while leaning on the window...

"BABE!!" 

"PERLA!!"

Alfred quickly attempts to wake up Perla from her 'soullessness'.

"Hey Babe! You alright? Hey wake up! It was an accident! Come on BABE!" He desperately shakes her but no avail 

Then, he violently turns to Ludwig. "It's your fault, YOU SAUSAGE-F**K*R!" 

Ludwig only responded with a groan, but it wasn't his fault either.

"When we get outside, we'll settle this in a fight! Got it?"

"Right! And this time, I'll defeat you!" Ludwig ragingly agrees.

"We'll see about that! Hey you! The two of us are dropping here." America now turns to the pilot.

"Sir, I cannot-"

"NOW!!"

The pilot sighed as Alfred hastily opens the door and both he and Ludwig jump immediately like skydivers from the helicopter to the forested island.

"UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!" 

" _BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLAND!_ " 

The same surge of strength from earlier was released from the two of them as they are fast approaching the island. They are indeed very fast like comets going to hit the ground. As each of them going to collide to their respective landing points, both of them punch the ground and made an immense impact. It caused the surrounding trees to be crushed and leaves no single trace of them. 

The impact also felt in the helicopter as it pulls away temporarily to the area. Feliciano is more terrified on what he is seeing. Perla is still unconscious.

The rival nations stand up from the ground. Ludwig, since he still wears his SWAT armory, took them off for him to move more (and to be fair with Alfred who wears nothing but simple T-shirt and pants) leaving him only his sando and his pants.

He dropped his bulletproof vest last and as soon as the vest touches the ground (as if giving a signal), the two start attacking each other violently. The battle has now begun.

"AAAHHH!!" Alfred is going to punch Ludwig in his face but... "What the-?!" 

Ludwig evaded it by squatting and he is going to hit Alfred's body. 

Alfred successfully defends himself to that attack. Good thing, he is quick to duck himself from that. Due to the impact, he slides backward.

As soon as Alfred recovers from that, their raging eyes meet as if they are giving consent to what will happen next.

Then Alfred strikes first, a series of kicks follows but Ludwig deflected them and finally grabs Alfred's right leg and he was going to throw him but Alfred counter-attacks by kicking him in his right face. Ludwig was strongly thrown to the left.

But it didn't faze him. He quickly recovers by flipping himself and then slides backwards. He then attacks Alfred quickly by punching his face. Due to the strong impact of the punch, Alfred was thrown somewhat distant to where they are. The trees are falling down due to this.

Ludwig is very satisfied to that. As dusts cover everything in sight, he smiles. He thought he finally defeated his long time rival but.

"WHAT THE?!" His eyes widened as Alfred quickly strikes back but something happened...

Alfred stops midway. He can't move as if he was being bound by some force. 

"WHAT THE F**K HAPPENED?!! I CAN'T MOVE!"

It was Ludwig's opportunity to strike but a katana stops him to do that as it aims near to his throat. His eyes widened in seeing who wields the said weapon.

"J-Japan?!" He recognizes a black haired guy wearing old Japanese traditional clothing.

"Ludwig-san! Please stop this in an instant!" He politely told Ludwig.

"Kiku-dude! What are you doing here?" Alfred questions the personification of Japan's presence.

"You better clean this bloody mess, you git!" An accented voice from a distant behind of Alfred speaks. Alfred cannot see him at first because of the dust but as the dust clears, he recognizes a familiar British guy with thick eyebrows, wearing tuxedo and wields some magical book.

"IGGY! YOU BETTER RELEASE ME ON THIS!"

"NO WAY I'LL RELEASE YOU! AND STOP CALLING ME IN THAT RUBBISH NAME, YOU GIT!" The personification of the United Kingdom loses patience (once again) to his former charge.

"Honhonhonhon! You're having fun there, _non_?"Everybody turned to the blonde Frenchman appeared in a white polo (slightly unbuttoned in the upperparts) and black pants while holding a very beautiful red rose. "Would you mind if Big Brother France joins you?" He winked afterwards.

"What are you doing here? And, No, you'll only make things worse, you frog!" England exclaims.

"NO way! I'm also a permanent member of UNSC, _Angleterre_!" Death glares come next to these rival nations.

"My, my, I see you're having a great time there, _da_?" A smiling gray haired Russian came in a beige robe and pink scarf in his neck. He also holds a water pipe.

"You, Westerners, do really no good, aru!" A ponytailed black haired Chinese guy in red Mandarin jacket and black pants stands on a tree nearby the area and then jumps to the ground.

Both Germany and America groaned on these nations' presence. _With all 5 permanent members of UNSC are here, it could mean trouble for me. And considering all of the Allied Forces from before are here. Well, except for Japan of course._ Ludwig thought even though he holds a non-permanent seat in UNSC.

"Alright, I'll stop." Germany calms down as he thought he would do.

" _Arigato_ , Germany-san." Kiku meanwhile put his weapon down and sheathes it.

"Hey, we're not finished yet!" America insists to continue.

"Enough of that, you git!" England scolds Alfred and smashes his book to Alfred's head.

France sighs and... "So, what's the reason for all of this?"

When they heard the personification of the French Republic's question, Alfred and Ludwig remembers that very embarrassing moment in the helicopter.

"IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!!" Both of them shouts (and blushes) in unison.

" _Excusez-Moi_?! You have caused a lot of trouble here! First, you used your powers here! Second, you destroyed this area! And third, you disturbed everyone's peaceful stay here!"

 _Wow! Francis is talking with sense now?_ Alfred silently notes Francis' sudden serious tone.

 _He talks like that pathetic Austria!_ Ludwig also silently notes unusual Francis he saw today.

 _This is the only time I heard him talk other than sexual things. Very unusual._ Arthur is seemed impressed with Francis' diplomatic tone.

"As a punishment..." Francis suddenly changed outfit into a male dominatrix and wields a whip. "I let you taste Big Brother France's whip!"

All of them (except for the personification of Russian Federation) were shocked to what they are seeing.

"Now... Will both of you tell me what happened?" France whips and makes an evil smile.

"YOU FROG! WILL YOU STOP THAT RUBBISH?!"

"That's actually a nice idea, da?" Ivan Braginski approves' Francis' indecent action.

Suddenly...

"EVERYONE!! IT'S AN EMERGENCY!!" 

Everybody turned to the direction where the voice comes from. It turned out to be Italy Veneziano.

"Feliciano, what's wrong?" Ludwig asked the gasping Italian.

"I-It's Perla! S-she's still unconscious until now!"

All of their eyes (except again to Russia's) are widened to the news. Fainting due to shock shouldn't let her be unconscious for the long time. Ludwig thought.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey old man! Wake up!" Gio is impatiently waking the middle aged Italian up.

"Uhn..." The Italian is waking up from his desk. "What is it, Gio?"

"We got another lead!" He is holding a CD. "I got this from someone close to the US Army."

"Really? What does that contain?" Rinna asks Gio while preparing coffee for them all.

"It contains a report regarding an incident happened 2 days ago at Crowne Plaza Hotel at Los Angeles at around 2 am. A Filipina and an American guy were kidnapped in process. Apparently, this never brought out to the public."

"Wow! That's potentially classified information." Rinna comments while giving coffee to Gio and the other one in the table for the Italian.

"REALLY!! Give me some more information on that!" The Italian stands up enthusiastically as if some bolt struck him to totally wake him up.

Gio sighs. "Alright." He now then goes to his desktop computer and inserts the CD there. The two follows him there.

He then opens the contents of the CD. They saw a folder entitled, _Crowne Plaza incident: Classified._ He clicked it and they saw some pictures. These show the crime scene, the respective hotel rooms of the said the Filipina and the American.

"Looks terrible. Some fighting must have happened there." Rinna notes to some set of the pictures showing the room of the American. They saw wrecked chairs and tables, crushed television which was apparently thrown to someone near the door, and the bed smashed to pieces. 

"Yeah... And it definitely happened according to my source." Gio notes on her comment.

"Uh... I guess I have to get back to my siesta..." The Italian loses interest to the lead.

"Hey, I'm not yet finished, old man. Besides, I didn't call you here for nothing." Gio calls the Italian back. "Well, let's cut the chase."

Gio then opens an archived file entitled, _Confidential_. A password prompt appears and good thing Gio has the password that was written in a small piece of paper. He then extracts the files to his desktop. 

After he extracts the files, a folder was downloaded from it. He then opens it...  
The Italian gains interest... Even more interest than earlier... He couldn't cease his smile due to excitement especially when he sees the profiles he definitely expects and he got more than he expected.

What they saw on that folder are the respective profiles of the Filipina and the American. They were the same ones who the old man mentioned a week ago...

"Now, it makes sense." Gio notes.

"We have not only the faces and their profiles but also their human names." Rinna also comments.

"Ma. Perla Liwayway, 23 y/o, Female, Born in the Philippines, Lives in some condominium in Manila and Works as a Clerk in Malacañang." She reads the Filipina's profile.

"She also holds a license as a Professional Nurse not only locally but internationally and also is a volunteer nurse for International Red Cross. Oh, I wish she is _my_ nurse!" The Italian blushes.

"Stop fantasizing old man!" Gio reprimands him again and bangs a paper to his head. 

"No wonder she is tending for the injured on that picture you have shown to us a week ago, old man." Rinna remembers the picture right away as she is a keen observer and that makes her reliable to the team.

"Yeah... Good thing you remembered, Rinna." Gio commends her and smiles to her.

Rinna blushed on Gio's comment. "Um... thanks..." She weakly replies.

"Hey guys! Am I missing some fun there?!" Everybody turned due to the door suddenly crashed as Tom enters the room.

"Hey Tom! You're late again!" Gio stands up and scolds Tom for his usual unpunctuality.

"Sorry for that, I have to meet someone. Oh! And speaking of that someone, I would like you to meet him. He is into researching thing about _those people_." He then calls the guy to get inside. "Hey! Come over here!"

Then a muscular bald guy wearing white long-sleeve polo and khaki slacks comes inside the room.

"Here he is! This is Orsino. He will be our guy when it comes to information about _those people_! He knows a lot of stuff about them! Hey Orsy! Say hi to them!"

Gio then widened his eyes when he sees the guy as if he knew the guy. Rinna sees it and wonders why he reacts like that...

\--------------------------------------------------------

Alone... In a very chaotic place....

"Hello!"

"Is anybody here?!"

"Answer me!"

She wanders to a very haunting and destructed place... Everything is empty...

"Alfred?! Matthew?! Daniel?! Where are you?"

"Ludwig?! Feli?! Answer me! Please!"

She saw nothing but destruction...

"Why is nobody answering?"

She is very frustrated... Tears are falling in her face... She is helpless... She is hopeless...

"Why..." She is crying for help and she knelt due to her hopelessness...

"WHY?!!" She shouts. She is desperate. She wanted to end it all...

Then she saw a piece of piercing broken glass...

She picked it up, held it in both hands, aimed the edge against her chest, and...

When she about to stab herself...

A hand stops her... and...

She woke up.

"Perla! You okay?!" A long brown haired Chinese girl in pink Chinese clothing called qipao with large flower on the right side of her hair is the first one Perla sees.

 _That nightmare.... again?_ She felt the same feeling. That fear.... That very scary feeling... Her cold sweat continues to flow.

" _Mi hermana_ , are you hurt?" A short haired blue guy in Mexican Cowboy clothing is also there in her side.

Perla, grasping herself to reality, seems to be in a white hospital room and wears a patient's clothing. The dextrose tube is also in her right wrist. She notices the time and it is already morning, 10:00 AM to be exact.

"Mei! _Kuya_ Alejandro! What are you doing here?"

"We're worried about you! When you arrived here, you were unconscious." Mei, the personification of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), told her.

" _Mi hermana_ , what exactly happened to you? _Jefe_ is also very much worried about you." He refers to Spain, their former colonizer.

Then, she remembers that very _shocking_ event in the helicopter.

"Umm... I-I don't want to talk about it." She blushes and turns away her sight to her brother and sister.

"Uh... Alright... Maybe it's the fatigue..." Alejandro, the personification of Southern Mexico, didn't insist his question.

"Anyways, Perla, didn't you know America and Germany fought each other last night?" Mei told her about the last night incident in the island.

"Huh? Really? Why?"

Mexico groaned while Perla is waiting for Taiwan's answer.

"I don't know really, but they said it was rather personal. Maybe they are fighting for a girl."

"Uh.... I don't think so..." The Philippines knows the real reason and it will make sense that they will fight because of that _shocking_ incident.

"Oh! North Italy is also with you that night, right? Maybe I'll ask him!"

"Uh... You better not..."

"But Per-"

"Please... For everybody's peace of mind..."

"Alright... If you say so!" Mei reluctantly agreed to her.

Meanwhile, someone has entered Perla's room. It was Alfred.

"Hey Babe!" Alfred quickly enters the room with a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

"YOU! _BASTARDO_! Don't ever talk to my sister!" Alejandro stops Alfred.

"Kuya... Just let him... Besides, I have to talk to him about something." Perla pleads to Alejandro.

"But Per-"

"Please..."

South Mexico sighed and gets out of the room. While Taiwan felt also the need to get out as she thought it will make things clear. But part of her wants to stay to be on the loop. Once Perla's visitors are out...

"Um... Alfred... I-"

"Don't talk... Me first..." Alfred stops Perla "I-"

"MATE!" The two turned as someone's happy and accented voice crashed their moment together as he enters the room.

"Dan! Nice to see you, _kaibigan_!" Perla greets a deep browned hair Australian guy that looked like a Jungle Caretaker. For some reason, he also has a bandage in his upper part of his nose.

Alfred groaned and glares at the Personification of Australia. _Daniel... You..._ He is grinding his teeth.

"Oh! Nice to see you too, love! But there is more important news that I'm gonna tell you guys!" Daniel suddenly turns serious.

"Huh? What is it, bro?" Alfred also changes his mood. It must be important.

"I got an awful word that all of us nations are gonna be isolated here. We will only go back once everything's settle down."

Perla and Alfred widened their eyes in hearing another bad news.

"That's bull! Is my boss still there?" Alfred asks Daniel.

"I believe so. All of our bosses are in a meeting together for that reason." Daniel remarks.

"Then I should talk to them!" Alfred hurriedly gets out of the room.

Daniel tries to stop Alfred but he is too late.

 _As always, he will always interfere... I hope, this time, it will change things... I believe in you, bro...._ He smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING! Lot's of swearing on this one... :(
> 
> Anyways, YAY! Here's another chapter for all of us! :D :D
> 
> Lot's of things happened and will happen from then on so I hope you'll stick around.
> 
> Translation Notes:
> 
> 1\. Dummkopf (German) - Idiot  
> 2\. Mia Amica (Italian) - My friend (female)  
> 3\. Bundesrepublik Deutschland (German) - Federal Republic of Germany  
> 4\. Non (French) - No  
> 5\. Angleterre (French) - England  
> 6\. da (Russian) - Yes  
> 7\. Arigato (Japanese) - Thank you (Do I need to translate that? :D)  
> 8\. Excusez-Moi (French) - Excuse Me  
> 9\. Mi Hermana (Spanish) - My sister  
> 10\. Jefe (Spanish) - Boss  
> 11\. Kuya (Filipino/Tagalog) - Older Brother  
> 12\. Bastardo (Spanish) - Bastard  
> 13\. Kaibigan (Filipino/Tagalog) - Friend
> 
> Some Notes:  
> 1\. UNSC or United Nations  
> Security  
> Council is the one in charged in International Peace and Security. For More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNSC
> 
> I hope you will enjoy this! As always, any comments, suggestions and reactions are always welcome! :)
> 
> Thank you very much to all who takes time to read my fanfic! :)


	6. Oath of Duty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Presidents of all nations are now discussing the fate of their respective personifications in an emergency meeting. What will they decide? Will they stay there?

"They should not be isolated here!"

"No! They're too dangerous to our people! They should be locked out!"

A very loud and noisy crowd can be heard in the halls of that room. It is filled with so many agreements, disagreements & making arguments to support a nation's leader stand to a very crucial issue. A slicked back grayish yellow hair with glasses old man with a goatee and wears a burgundy Americana presides this very emergency meeting, observes all these and listens to their arguments. Along with him is the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

They heard some with points but at times some have pointless arguments. A leader even suggested staking all the personifications in an open fire which strongly disagreed by everybody and made the noise worse.

"Order! ORDER!!" The Secretary-General is trying to ease the crowd by banging his mallet but no avail. The old man only deeply sighed to his boss' another moment of incompetence.

"Ehem!" The old man loudly clears his throat and his voice has been heard throughout the room which is like a mini-General Assembly hall. His already wrinkled forehead frowns more to all of that noise. This urges everyone in the hall to be at order.

"Let us continue everyone." He calmly said.

When a leader was about to say his piece, they hear a lot more loud noise outside. They all turned to the door's direction as that noise is getting louder as if someone is trying to get inside since it is well guarded. 

The old man widened his eyes as if he knew what will happen next...

\---------------------------------------------------------------

"So, we're gonna stuck here for a long time, eh? Dan?" Perla asks her Australian friend who broke very troubling news earlier that made Alfred rush out to the door of the private hospital room. 

"Uh... I don't think it will be that long, love." Dan scratches his head. "And besides, Freddie will surely do his thing, you know?" He smiles big at her.

Perla sighs "Right..."

"By the way, I'm really glad you're safe from that trouble. We are all worried for you!" 

"Yeah... I'm sorry that I made you all worried." A sudden guilt made her a bit sad "But thanks to Ludwig and Feliciano, we are here now. They have been a big help!" She showed a thankful smile to her friend.

"What about Freddie? Didn't he show you his usual hero antics?"

"Of course he did! It was a bit overdone though..."

Both of them laughed on her remark. 

" _MIJA!!_ " The two were surprised and they turned to a sudden booming crying voice that was heard outside the room... and it is getting louder as it nears to the door. 

" _MIIIIJJJAAAA!!_ " An unkempt brunette green-eyed Spaniard in very casual clothing hastily enters the room and quickly hugs Perla tightly. She and Daniel are too surprised to react.

"Are you alright, _mi hija?!_ Papa is so worried about you! _MIJA!!!!_ " He shakes Perla and hugs her tight more as he exaggeratingly cries. Perla meanwhile is dizzying. Before even Dan can react...

"SHUT UP YOU BASTARD!! YOU ARE MAKING HER STRESS MORE!!" A dark brown haired Italian with an ahoge that similar to Feli's but pointing to the left also in casual clothing enters the room.

"Don't stop me, Lovi! I miss _mi precioso hija_ so much!! MIJAA!!" The Spaniard still insists his actions despite Perla's dizziness.

"Stop that, mate! She is hurting! You're making her condition worse!" Dan tries to release the personification of the Kingdom of Spain to his former colony.

Antonio Carriedo turned to Australia and frowned. His anger shows in his eyes. "It's your bastardo brother's fault! You British colonies do really no good!" 

"S-spain... I..." Perla weakly said.

"MIJA! What is it?" Antonio turned to Perla and he smiled with beaming eyes.

"I.... I'm gonna puke..."

Before even Spain can react, he suddenly feels a green, warm and gooey fluid coming from Perla's mouth into his shirt. 

"AH!" His face grimaced for a while but he is more worried to Perla than to himself as she loses consciousness again. He still holds Perla shoulders. "Lovi! Call the nurse! Quick!"

"It's your fault so you should be the one calling, you bastard!" The personification of South Italy, Lovino Vargas, A.K.A. Italia Romano, meanly replies.

"This is no time for your tomato cutesy whine, Romano! Just call the nurse!" Spain insists his command to Romano.

"If you guys don't, I'll do it!" Australia volunteers and gets out of the room quickly.

"MIJA!!" Spain cries exaggeratedly again.

Then a nurse came along with Australia to check on the Philippines' condition. Spain moves back to give way to the nurse and he gets some tissues to clean whatever Perla thrown up. The three observe the nurse as she checks Perla's face.

"Her face seems pale." She then checks her pulse. "It seems slow." Then her blood pressure. "It's 60/80. Pretty low, huh?"

"WHAT?!" Spain becomes more worried.

"It kinda looked like she experienced a very powerful earthquake. She's dizzy."  
Lovino and Daniel moves backwards more and Antonio is more nervous for his hija especially he made her unconscious.

Then the nurse turned to them and smiled. "Don't worry all she needs is a rest. She will be alright!"

The three are relieved on what they heard.

"You do kind of familiar..." Spain wonders as he observes the nurse. She has black short hair up to her neck then has cute brown eyes like Perla. 

"No... sorry I never met you before.... though I always hearing things about you..." the nurse shyly disagrees with Antonio. "By the way, my name is Anna Marasigan! I'm a Filipino Volunteer nurse of the International Red Cross and a subordinate of Madam Perla. Pleased to meet you!"

" _¡Encantado de conocerla!_ " Spain gladly replies.

"By the way, you're the one who made madam unconscious eh?" A sudden scary aura was felt by the three as she changed her mood. 

"H-how d-did you know?!" Spain anxiously asks.

Anna sighs. "You gave her stress, didn't you know that?"

Antonio shocked and sulked to her remark and goes to a corner and contemplates like an emo. "Do I really give her stress?"

"Not only her but all of us bastard!" Romano said.

"NNOO!!! NOT YOU TOO!! MY CHILDREN HATES ME!!" Spain runs out the room and loudly cries.  
Lovino sighs. "Hey you! Can you tell her that she must get well soon?"

"Uh.... sure!" Daniel reluctantly agreed. Lovino then exits the room to follow Antonio to stop him for making a scene.

"I never said that she hates him though..." Anna contemplates on what she said to Spain. "Anyway, I need to go now and as I said, madam only needs to rest. You better take care of her!"

"Right... Thanks a lot!"

 _Is she really a Filipino? She's more like a Russian._ Australia wonders as Anna then leaves the room to attend some other nursing duties.

Another visitor quickly enters the room...

"Hey Dan! Things are going worse!" A short haired blond guy enters the room with some sort of a sheep horn in his head in a farming outfit.

"Hey Jesse! What's wrong?" Dan asks the personification of New Zealand whom is he close to.

"It's Alfred! He..."

Dan widened his eyes in shock to what he heard from Jesse.

\-----------------------------------------------------

"Oh great! Now what will bloody happen to us?!" Arthur Kirkland is unsure of everything as he is sipping his cup of tea and looks to the beautiful scenery outside thru the window.

Francis Bonnefoy, England's unwelcomed visitor, sits in an elegant chair near where England is while holding a glass of wine. He noticed his former rival's anxiousness even though England doesn't show it. "My, my, _Angleterre_ , you're not on yourself lately."

"Really? What makes you said that?" He turns to France. He could not believe that his former rival reads him.

"You're this very confident guy. Or should I say, you were..."

Arthur widened his eyes as if a very quick bullet goes through his heart. "W-what are you saying?! O-of course, I am still that confident gentleman guy! You're just envious of me, you perverted frog!" He said all that with pride but France don't believe his cover.

"Oh really, remember when you want to change that punky hairstyle of yours?" 

"WHAT ABOUT MY HAIR, YOU FROG?!!"

"Honhonhonhon!!" Francis laughs (to mock England more). "See that's what I'm saying"  
Arthur was definitely stunned on Francis unusual concern to him. He was calmed down a bit from their usual bickering. "Really? Huh..." England weakly responds and bows his head. "I got to admit, it's really hard to get relax... Especially, we don't know if we are going back to our normal lives..."

"Our lives are never normal, mon ami! If our lives are that 'normal', we should be dead long time ago!" Francis furiously stood up and made his point. He shows a very serious face. The last time England saw this, was on Hundred Year's War.

"You're the one, who is not in bloody self lately, you frog..." England smiled to France. He could not believe that he felt gratified to his former rival for cheering him up...

"Is that so?" France smiled. He could not believe at that moment he felt he forgiven England for everything he has done to him...

Suddenly someone crashed that peaceful moment...

"England! France!" A dirty blond guy hastily enters the room. He's catching his breath.

"America! What are you doing here?" Arthur asks the guy. The guy doesn't seem to hear that.

"England, does your tea have hallucinating effects?! He's Canada!" Francis corrects him.

"Oh! Is that so? Of course he is! Then, what is it, Canada?"

"It's Alfred. He..."

Arthur and Francis widened their eyes to what they have heard from Matthew.

\-------------------------------------------------------

_A silent moment... is all what I need right now..._

Ludwig is in deep thoughts. He closes his eyes to focus about something. The cold breeze is blowing into his rarely calm face. 

But he couldn't meditate as Japan taught him. He can't concentrate as much as he wants to as his mind is full of unusual thoughts. He groaned and his face frowned to that uneasy feeling.

"What are you contemplating at?" A dark brown haired man with a curly ahoge in his right side of his hair, wearing in very aristocratic clothing has disturbed Ludwig's meditation.

"Why are you here?! Don't you realize I'm meditating here?!" Ludwig scolds the personification of the Republic of Austria, Roderich Edelstein.

"That is why I'm asking, you fool!" Roderich clarifies his intention. He does not mean to disturb him. But he notices something is unusual with him.

Ludwig groaned to the fact that he cannot continue his meditation.

"You're thinking about your brother, are you not?"

Ludwig widened his eyes and quickly turns to Austria. He grabs Roderich's shoulders and questions him. "Have you seen him?! Answer me!!" Desperation is shown in his eyes. A cold sweat dropped from his face.

Roderich sees all this through Ludwig's eyes. He recognizes his friend's concern over his missing _dummkopf_ former rival. "No, I haven't... I'm sorry...."

Ludwig calms down and let goes of Roderich's shoulders. He turns away from him and realizes his unusual act. "I-I'm sorry..."

"You fool! Y-you don't have to apologize."

Disappointed, Ludwig becomes quiet and looks up to the sky.

"Ludwig-san! Roderich-san!" A voice suddenly calls the both of them and turns to where the voice comes from. They recognize it comes from Kiku Honda as he runs to them.

"Japan! Is everything alright?" Ludwig asks when Japan arrived. Kiku meanwhile is catching breath.

"I-It's Alfred-san! He..." He can't answer immediately as he is still tired from running. Good thing, Ludwig brought with him a water jug and gives it to Kiku. He and Roderich are now waiting for Kiku's news.

"He is on the General Assembly with our bosses. He is making a scene there!"

Ludwig and Roderich widened their eyes to what they heard from Kiku.

"Let us stop him before making our situation worse!" Austria suggested in which the two agreed.

"Why don't you take a rest here, Japan?" Ludwig suggested to Kiku.

" _Īe_ , I will be alright. I'll go with you." Kiku politely declines.

The three now runs to stop America before it is too late.

\------------------------------------------------------

"LET ME IN!!"

"Sir, you can't. There's a session going on right now."

"I SAID LET ME IN!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but this is a directive from the United Nations."

These are the words that the people in the General Assembly are hearing. They are very alarmed to the increased tension outside. They have lost order at this point.

"Wh-what is it now?"The Secretary-General stutters as he is afraid that it may cause a ruckus among the people.

Henri Charleston, the personification of the United Nations, sighed again on hearing this from his boss. Sometimes, he wanted him to be replaced but it is not for him to decide. "Guards! Who is that?" He calls the soldiers that are stationed outside the hall. 

"Sir, it's Alfred F. Jones! He wants to enter here!"

"HEY OLD MAN! LET ME IN!! THE HERO WANTS TO ENTER!! HAHAHAHA!!"

Henri sighed heavily on the American's usual recklessness. His spontaneous and annoying hero complex irks him as always. 

Tensions inside the hall are at all time high. All the leaders knew how dangerous those personifications can be except for one, The President of the United States of America.

"Let him in, Henri." 

A very bold suggestion that shocked everyone in the room. The President seems confident in his statement as he always does.

"A-are you serious, Mr. President?!" The Secretary-General nervously reacted as he is very unsure of what the outcome of this mess.

"Yes, this involves them anyway. They have every right to speak and say their opinions to it." The President calmly reasons.

"He does have the point, Your Excellency." Henri agreed.

"Everyone! Do you agree on Mr. President's suggestion?" The Secretary-General initiates voting to make things a bit diplomatic.

Everyone, for the first time, is silent. They have no chance and no way to oppose Alfred's boss. Because of this, they reluctantly and unanimously agreed to let Alfred enter and say his piece.

"Alright, guards, let him in!" 

The 2 large doors have opened. They have nervously welcomed one of the most powerful personifications.

"HAHAHAHA!! THE HERO ENTERS THE HALL!!" As Alfred enters the room, he excitingly jumps in every descending steps of the hall.

Henri couldn't help himself but to go down from the presiding desk as he sighs. He just couldn't take Alfred's annoying entrance.

"Well... What is your purpose here, America?"

"Hey gramps! I'm here to stop you from isolating us here!"

"We are still discussing here. Don't jump to conclusions yet!"

"Well, if you say so, but let me just say my piece here!" Alfred becomes serious and then turns to his boss in which he is acknowledged.

"Alright... Since we let him enter the hall, why not let him speak his mind, Your Excellency?" The President proposed another bold move.

"O-of course! I assume that is his purpose, right?" The Secretary-General is evidently reluctant just like everyone else.

"Alright, you may now say your piece, Mr. Jones." Henri gave green light to Alfred.

"Thank you, Mr. United Nations." Alfred politely gave his salutations to Henri. That was probably the first time Henri heard him so serious. Then Alfred had begun his speech by going up to the presiding desk at the Secretary-General's surprise.

Before Alfred can deliver his speech, Arthur, Francis, Matthew, Ludwig, Roderich, Kiku, Daniel, Jesse and Perla (who is in a wheelchair), forcefully enters the hall and to their surprise, they have saw a different Alfred. It is too late for them to stop him. They are just stunned to what they have seen.

"Your Excellency, Mr. Secretary-General of the United Nations, Our dear Leaders, Ladies and Gentlemen, our isolation to this desolate island clearly violates the Articles 1,2,3, 6, 7 & 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We, the personifications, have every right to live according to our own wishes. We may have chosen to live a normal life, but, we have instead sacrificed our own mortal lives for our people, as we duly represent as their respective nations, who were born according to our people's identification of their freedom and their attainment of independence against anyone. Thus, I will say this. We are not merely symbols of every politician's propaganda! We are what our people are so what we can only do is to pay what is due and we stand according to our oath to our respective citizens. We will protect them as payment to our own existence! And thus, this is our stand as personifications! Thank you very much!"

As Alfred finished his speech, silence occurs to the room as all leaders are at awe on what he had said.

Henri could not believe on what he saw and heard from the usually annoying personification of the United States of America. We are what our people are. These are the words that truly marked his heart. He must have forgotten that it is their duty as personifications to represent their people and also to protect them.

But, the silence breaks when someone claps and stands to applaud him. Everyone (including Alfred) turned who it was

It is Perla, who stood up from her wheelchair and for some reason, got her energy back. She smiles big to Alfred.

Alfred could not believe in his eyes and opens his mouth out of amusement. His 'babe' clapped for him as if she is proud of him and he is extremely happy for that.

Arthur claps next, then Francis, Kiku, Daniel, Jessie, Matthew, Roderich and unexpectedly Ludwig clap for Alfred.

Then, all the leaders (including Henri and the Secretary-General) gave Alfred a standing ovation for his moving speech. He turned to his boss and he saw that his boss was very glad he interrupted.

"HAHAHAHAHA!! Thank you! Thank you! HAHAHAHA!!" Alfred proudly receives their salutations.

\----------------------------------------

Two days after the General Assembly meeting, at around 6:30 A.M. in the morning...

Perla suddenly stood up in her bed and wondering about the sudden radio announcement she have heard 15 minutes ago about gathering all personifications in the assembly hall on or before 7:00 AM.

 _It must be important._ She thought that is why she hurriedly gets up to take a bath, fix her hair, wear her silky red business attire, her gray slacks and her black leather shoes, and put her light make-up in her face. These took her almost 30 minutes. Then, she runs as fast as she could so that she could be as early as possible to that meeting. 

_I must hurry! Ayoko nang mahuli... ulit!_

The distance between her room and the assembly hall is quite far. She dashes to the hall as much as she could.

Then after a few bumps in the way, she finally reached the hall. As she opened the door, she saw every nation in their designated seats chatting.

 _Salamat sa Diyos! It hasn't started yet!_ She is relieved while catching her breath. Then after few seconds of resting, she goes to her designated seat as they were arranged in alphabetical order. She sat beside blonde-haired Feliks Łukasiewicz, the Personification of the Republic of Poland who wears a stylish gray Americana with blue accented neck tie.

"Good morning Feliks! Thank God, I am not late!" She happily greeted her seatmate.

"Like, No way! Is that a miracle?!" Feliks jokes his seatmate as Perla has an untarnished record of lateness (only rivaled by her fellow ASEAN sisters, Malaysia & Indonesia.) and whenever Germany presides a world meeting, he always notices Perla's usual tardiness.

"Hey! Don't be like that?! I put a lot of energy and effort on going here!"

Perla and Feliks giggle to her remark until...

"ORDER! The meeting is now in session!" The presiding speaker has halted the nations to create noise any further. "Mr. United Nations would like to announce the world leader's decision in the last assembly held two days ago regarding your isolation here in this island. Mr. Charleston?" The host called Henri to announce something. The nations give a round of applause to Henri.

"Alright, I am here today to announce what the leaders have decided base on our assessment to the current situation to this crisis. I will keep this short."

Everyone was keen to whatever Henri will tell them.

Perla is attentive and waiting for Henri to say his piece.

Alfred, who is seated besides Arthur, is rather excited on whatever the result of his interference to that meeting and to his moving speech much to Arthur's annoyance.

Ludwig is seriously focusing on what will happen next. He tries to predict it.

Feliciano is... as usual, out of the blue. He can't wait to get out of the hall to continue his interrupted pasta breakfast. His older brother, Lovino, however is extremely annoyed to him.

All nations are anxious to that announcement that may change their lives.

"We have decided... to protect our people and we will be here to fight for our people!"

Everyone was bewildered by Henri's announcement. _What could he mean for that?_ That is the question that pops out of their minds immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What does Henri mean to that? We will find that out in the next chapter.. :D
> 
> Translations:  
> 1\. Mi hija/Mija - My daughter (Spanish)  
> 2\. ¡Encantado de conocerla! - Nice to meet you! (Spanish)  
> 3\. Angleterre - England (French)  
> 4\. mon ami - my friend (French)  
> 5\. dummkopf - idiot (German)  
> 6\. Īe - No (Japanese)  
> 7\. Ayoko nang mahuli… ulit! - I don't want to be late... again (Filipino)  
> 8\. Salamat sa Diyos! - Thank God! (Filipino)
> 
> Notes:  
> 1\. Alfred mentioned The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Here is the  
> complete  
> list along with other details of the said declaration: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/  
> 2\. Filipinos, Malaysians & Indonesians are said to be typically late most of the time in coming to work/school/etc... For details here: http://www.aseanaffairs.com/indonesia_news/economy/tardiness_unacceptable_to_japanese & http://www.theborneopost.com/2009/10/11/should-we-be-pissed-at-tardiness/
> 
> Thanks so much for taking your time in reading my fanfics. As always, feel free to post your comments, suggestions and reactions.
> 
> So, here it is! Enjoy!


	7. Establishment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What Henri is trying to say is...

Vague... Absolutely Vague...

That’s the main impression of the nations who just heard Henri’s announcement. Clearly they need more explanation for this.

“Huh? What does he mean to that?” Perla murmured to her seatmate, Feliks.

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s joking?” he responded.

“Do you think he’s the kind of guy who jokes around in a meeting like this?” 

“He’s probably, like, insane.”

“Hey _Ihtiyar_! Quit joking around and explain this to us!” The masked personification of the Republic of Turkey shouts to Henri while stepping his right foot to the table.

Loud noise has followed and then…

“SILENCE!” 

That one word silenced them all as if some force affected them all.

“Alright, I’ll explain things further.”

Perla is beginning to gain interest to whatever Henri has to say.

Ludwig, once again, tries to predict it but to no avail thus he decided to just wait for the United Nations to tell it.

Alfred is still very eager to learn if his effort is effective enough to turn around their bosses decision much to Arthur’s chagrin…

Well, as usual, Feliciano is still very hungry and he is very frustrated as well but not for the reason that the others are thinking.

The level of anticipation in the room is in the highest level… Everybody seems to be eager to know what Henri has to say.

“We are establishing a special force in which all of us, personifications, will become a part of it. This island will serve as our headquarters from now on.”

Almost all of them felt the shock of their lives. They each felt this by widening their eyes.

“RIGHT ON, OLD MAN!! HAHAHA!!” Alfred stands while excitingly laughs as he deemed to be victorious to what he thinks is a right thing to do. 

“Would you calm down, you git?!” Arthur reprimands Alfred once again. It always happens.

“Huh? A Special Force? What will be our functions then?” Perla turned serious as she tells to Feliks.

“Well, we are, like, fighting, right?” Feliks turns to Perla to answer her but he is unsure to himself.

 _I’m not really expecting this… But, it might solve the crisis that we have, can it?_ Ludwig thought as he clasp his hands and slightly bury his face to think the possibilities some more. 

“It’s annoying. He’s putting a lot of burden for us!” Lovino complained. He doesn’t like to work that much.

“But _fratello_ , as long as Germany and Spain are there for us, we would not worry anything!” Feliciano happily responded as he turns to Lovino.

“But, we do not know how this special force will be organized! Are we sure that we could rely on those bastards when we need them?!” Lovino reasons out

“Of course, they would, _mio fratello_!” Feliciano turned a bit serious.

“Hmph! You’re so annoying as always!” Lovino begrudgingly turns back to front.

“This special force will help minimize and eradicate any threats to our own existence. You will be divided into teams of 4. We will investigate any leads that will solve this in any way possible.” Henri adds. “Any questions?” Someone has raised their hands. “Yes, Germany?”

Ludwig stands very firm and calm to address his question. “Mr. United Nations, if we will have this special force, surely there has to be someone to lead us?”

“Then, it had to be me.” Henri calmly answers while narrowing his eyes looking to Ludwig. “Any objections to that?”

Everybody is very silent. “Silence means yes, eh?”

Ludwig felt very uneasy at first but he accepted this quickly as he thought it would be only logical for Henri to lead them. He has still some reservations though.

“Alright, I have another question, what would be our bosses involvement on this? Would they still be a factor to our cause?”

“Their involvement on this will be very little because most of the decisions will be mainly coming from me. But if there are cases that a debate will be needed, only all of you shall vote to come up with a decision. Thus, in short, we would be very independent to our presidents and to our secretary-general. But in cases that we would need our respective military aide to some of our missions, we would need that president’s approval along with the approval of the secretary-general and the members of the UNSC.”

“Alright, it is reasonable enough. _Dankeschön_ , Mr. United Nations.” Ludwig calmly sits to his chair. He felt that this will eventually all clear once all of it happens.

“Moving on. We are now going to select the teams you will be joined in. But first…” Henri claps his hand as if commanding something…

Three large monitors descend from the ceiling on his back and a large button ascends from the floor in his front below the platform…

“Whoa, what was that?” Feliks widened his eyes in disbelief.

“I don’t know. Some sort of a device.” Perla responded.

“I would like to call on first the 5 permanent members of the Security Council, United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Russian Federation and People’s Republic of China.”

Alfred, Arthur, Francis, Ivan and Yao stand up from their respective seats as Henri called their nation names. They are now going to the front.

As Francis goes down, Ludwig can’t help but to look at him and wonders why they are being called.

As Yao goes to the front, Kiku is looking and slightly glares at him.

As Ivan goes down, everyone in his vicinity seems to be scared at him. His aura really is intimidating despite his sweet face at most. Perla can’t help but to look at him as he walks past through her. She doesn’t seem to be scared at all. Then, she notices something in her left.

Alfred is looking at her and gives her thumbs up and what he calls a “heroic” smile. Perla smiled back to him but when Arthur sees that gesture, he immediately pulls his ear to move. Because of it, Perla giggled.

“Awww! Arthur, Let go of me!” Alfred loudly complains.

“You git! It is no time for your rubbish antics!” Arthur loudly reprimands him.

As soon as Arthur let go of his tight grip to Alfred’s ear, Alfred saw Daniel and Matthew giggling in which he glared to them and groaned.

After the 5 great nations have arrived in front…

“Alright, since you are the 5 permanent members of UNSC, you are the first ones to choose who will be your teammates.”

“ALRIGHT!” Alfred exclaims and clasps his right hand in which Arthur glares to him back.

“But only 1 nation will be chosen by you personally. Then the 2 remaining team members will be randomly chosen by this button.”

“Awww… that sucks…” Alfred weakly responded in which amuses Arthur.

Henri clicks his right hand. It signifies the activation of the monitors. The left monitor shows the list of countries. The right monitor shows blank borders in which the first 5 blocks were reserved to the 5 UNSC permanent members. The largest monitor which is in center shows random flags and names of countries. The button in front of the 5 great nations begins to illuminate.

“Alright, it is now the time to choose your members, Mr. Jones, you’re up! Which country will you personally choose?”

“ALRIGHT!” He turns to the audience as he raises his fingers to select the country of his choosing.

“The Philippines! I choose you!! HAHAHA!!” Alfred proudly exclaims as he points immediately to Perla.

Perla was shocked by Alfred’s gesture. She turns red because of it. But she is happy that among any other allies of the US that were certainly stronger than her, he still chose her.

Germany cannot hide his disappointment as he is secretly wishes that he will choose her once his turn is up.

Japan face palms. He certainly remembers something like that in his country that resembles that gesture. _Alfred-san, what do you think of Perla-chan, some sort of a Pokemon?_

Australia and Canada has same sentiment as Japan.

Siti Sarwendah, the personification of the Republic of Indonesia and the eldest sister of Perla, is not very happy on this. She is clinching her fist and is grinning. While Maya Salena, the personification of Malaysia and the second elder sister of Perla, seems to support Perla as she smiles widely.

Meanwhile, Ameen Marzuq, the personification of the Nation of Brunei has same sentiment as Indonesia and Germany. He seems to be defeated by this as he slowly bows his head. Apparently, he has some feelings for Perla.

“Alright, Mr. Jones, since you have personally selected your first team member, you will have to press that button in front of you to randomly choose your remaining 2 members of your team.” Henri instructs.

Francis raises his hand. “Wait, _Monseur_ , why do we have to press that button over there? Would that be better if we choose our own team members for this?”

“It would not be fair to the others if we do that; Mr. Bonnefoy. All of you will have a tendency to overpower your team. Thus, this would bring compromise to our missions if we have a lot of weaker teams.” Henri calmly answers.

“Alright, you do have a point.” Francis sighs as he accepts Henri’s explanation.

“Then, if that’s settled, you can now press the button, Mr. Jones.”

“ALRIGHT!” _Surely, this has to be Dan, Mattie or even Kiku-dude for this! We would be the strongest team ever!_ "Let the greatest luck of Vegas be mine!" He excitingly bashed the button. 

The central monitor is now activated and it now randomly selects the countries that will join Team USA.

And the first random country that appeared in the monitor is…

Germany...

“WHHAAATTTT??!!” Alfred and Ludwig exclaimed at the same time…

“THAT SAUSAGE-BRAINED EFFIN’ LOSER IS JOINING MY TEAM??!!”

“I AM JOINING THAT BURGER-BRAINED DUMMKOPF?!!”

“I DECLINE!!” The rivals have loudly expressed their complaints.

“Sorry, but once we have formed your team members by this random selector, you cannot revoke it!” Henri glared at both Alfred and Ludwig.

Arthur and Francis are trying their best not to laugh at Alfred’s unlucky-as-Vegas moment.

Alfred is still grinning and groaned by this very unlucky situation…

Ludwig cannot be more unlucky as he facepalms and sits… but the lucky side on this, he will be with Perla.

Feliciano is definitely more worried and nervous than before… He prays that he will be also with Alfred’s team just to be together with Ludwig and Perla…

Perla is truly happy not only she will be joining Alfred’s team but also Ludwig is joining them. She might learn a thing or two from Germany. But, she is slightly worried about Alfred and Ludwig’s dynamics and how will this affect in the team’s performance.

“Alright, for the last random member of your team, Mr. Jones?”

“Ok…” Alfred sighs and weakly responds and then he pressed the button…

The second random member of Team USA is…

Italy (the North)…

“WHAT THE F*CK??!! WHAT IS THIS??!! IS THIS THING F*CKING BROKEN??!!” Alfred is truly unlucky indeed. Not only is the babysitter joining his team but also the baby himself…

Arthur and Francis are laughing to their fullest. The American is very laughable in their eyes…

“Too Bad… Your bloody lady luck is not on your side at all! HAHAHAHA!!”

“SHUT UP YOU SH*TTY GRANDPAS!!” 

“YAY!!!” Feliciano is very happy that his prayers were answered immediately. He is holding his brother’s hands and shakes it much to the latter’s annoyance.  
Ludwig does a sigh of relief. He cannot be happier than this. Nice revenge for that _Dummkopf_. He thought.

Perla is also excited that Feli joins their team. She is truly satisfied with the results.

“Now, Team 1 is complete!” Henri points to the right monitor in which on the first block contains the names of the nations that joined America’s team. “To recap, the first team comprises of USA, the Philippines, Germany and Italy, the North.”

“Alright, we would now proceed to the 2nd team. Mr. Kirkland, please do the honors.” 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

After a half an hour of stressful selections for the team members of the remaining 4 UNSC Permanent Members, the first 5 blocks in the right monitors has been filled. Arthur is going to lead the 2nd Team, thus he chose Daniel to be 1st Team Member since he thought he would need additional naval power to dominate the seas. Then he now goes to the random selector to choose the 2 remaining members of his team and it chose Michelle Victoria, the personification of the Republic of Seychelles and Jesse Davis, the personification of the New Zealand (in which coincidentally, they are two of his former colonies). Francis is very upset to the selection of Michelle to Arthur’s team in which amuses Arthur.

Then it is Francis turn to select the members of his team. He personally chose Matthew to be his 1st Team member since he is perfect partner for missions not only due to his invisibility but also his ability to discern things calmly. Francis then pressed the button to determine his last 2 members of his team. The random selector chooses Genevieve Castella, the personification of the Principality of Monaco and Manu Eloundou , the personification of the Republic of Cameroon. Francis is very satisfied to the results as he thought that his team has the most “balanced” attributes so far.

After that, it is Ivan’s turn to choose his team members. Any nation who will join his team will be the unluckiest, well, except for one. Natalia Arlovskaya, the personification of the Republic of Belarus, secretly wishes (in a very murderous manner) that she will be chosen by his brother to his team as she wanted him to marry her. 

Ivan Braginsky has now personally chosen his 1st teammate and he chooses Tori Laurinaitis, the personification of the Republic of Lithuania. Natalia cannot believe it. She cannot bear that as someone as low as Toris be chosen by her dearest brother. She soon (deathly) glared Toris much to his fear.

Feliks, Toris’ bestfriend, was also shocked and grinned in disagreement in this decision. Perla cannot help but to feel pity for his seatmate.

And then, Ivan has now pressed the button to randomly choose 2 nations for his team. The random selector has chosen Natalya and Carlos Machado, the personification of the Republic of Cuba. She got really lucky that the selector has chosen her to be with her dearest brother. But still, it is so much better for her if Ivan chose her personally.

Lastly, Wang Yao has personally chosen his 1st teammate. Kiku is now worried that he will be chosen by Yao. Im Yong Soo, the personification of the Republic of Korea (South Korea), meanwhile wishes that he’d be chosen by the personification of the People’s Republic of China. They are now focused to whom Yao shall choose.

Yao has personally chose the personification of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), Im Seung Min. Yong Soo is devastated to learn that his wretched twin gets the slot. Seung Min meanwhile stands to acknowledge Yao’s selection as his long black braided hair and a stoic face looks to his team leader. Alfred, Francis and Arthur does not seem to be happy for this either.

Then, it is Yao’s turn to press the random selector’s button. And the slots go to Dayana Patricia Meneses, the very georgious personification of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Joseph Alika Rangi, the personification of the Independent State of Samoa. He is very muscular and he has a long black hair that is tied like a ponytail. He apparently has a quiet disposition that is similar to Ludwig.

Thus, all of the UNSC Teams were filled. All of the 5 UNSC members go back to their respective seats.

“It is now time for the G8 members to select for their teams. But since Germany and Italy, the North is already in Team 1 and Canada is on Team 3, we would only give Mr. Honda a chance to choose his own team.” Henri announces.

While Henri announces this, Ludwig can’t help but groaned and be disappointed on this. This would have been his chance to either choose Perla or Feliciano as his first teammate but of course he’s not in the situation to complain.

Kiku Honda, the personification of the State of Japan, stands and walks to the front as his turn to choose his team arises. He greets Henri politely as usual in which Henri nods for his response.

“Alright, Mr. Honda, who do you personally choose?”

Kiku breathes heavily as he concentrates who he shall personally choose to be his 1st team member. 

“I am choosing Ms. Mei-Lin to be my first team member.” Kiku politely announced.  
Noisy reactions follow as they knew that Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, as she has currently has disputes to her official name “Republic of China” to her mentor, Yao.

“I object to this selection, Mr. United Nations-aru!” Yao stands to his seat. Naturally, he is not in favor on it.

“Mr. Wang. As I have said earlier, once the selection has been done, it is irrevocable.”

“But, she is not a member of the United Na-“

“She is still a personification of a sovereign and thus she has a right to be on a team.”

Yao did not object anymore on this thus, begrudgingly, he is now forced to settle on his seat.

“Bleeehh…” Mei takes out her tongue to tease her teacher.

Yao sees that and he is forced to ignore Mei’s taunts.

“Ok Mr. Honda, you may now press the button.” Henri instructs and Kiku follows it.

And the 1st random nation to be part of Team Japan is…

Turkey.

“Way to go, _dostum_ Japan! You’re the best! HAHAHA!” Sadiq Annan, the personification of the Republic of Turkey, stands up to his seat much to the chagrin of his rival, Heracles Karpusi, the personification of the Hellenic Republic (Greece).

Kiku politely acknowledge the regards from the masked Turkish personification.

“For your last teammate, Mr. Honda?”

Kiku has now pressed the button and then his 2nd random nation to be part of his team is…

Greece.

“What?! Why it had to be you?! Grrr…” Sadiq is furious over the selection of his rival.  
Heracles was not in the mood to bicker again with Sadiq thus he just brushes him off and let a huge sigh come out. Then he smiled to Kiku to acknowledge his selection.

“Alright, Team 6 is now complete!” Henri points to the right monitor in which on the sixth block contains the names of the nations that joined Japan’s team. “To recap, the sixth team comprises of Japan, Taiwan, Turkey and Greece. Thank you Mr. Honda.”

Kiku bows politely to respond to Henri’s gratitude. He now goes back to his seat.

As he goes, he saw Mei waving at him. He bows to her to acknowledge her and smiles at her. Mei can’t help but be flustered by Kiku’s gesture.

“Now, after the selection of teams for the G8 nations, we shall now have a random selection for the next team leaders. I will press this button and who ever appears to the screen will be given a right to form his/her own team. The mechanics after that will be the same as the previous ones.” Henri makes another announcement that lifts the interests of the remaining countries.

“Alright, shall we begin?” Henri pressed the button and the first random country to form his/her own team is…

Spain.

As soon as his country name has called, Antonio Fernandez Carriedo has stood up excitingly and goes down to the front.

“ _Hola Señor!_ ” Antonio cheerfully greets Henri.

“ _Hola Señor_ Carriedo, you may choose your 1st team mate.”

“Ok, I choose Italy, the South.” The Spaniard excitingly and happily says.

Lovino blushed to the gesture of his former colonizer though he kinda expected it. Feliciano feels happy for his brother.

“Yay, mio fratello! I told you they will never leave us!”

“Shut up, bastard!” He furiously shouts to his own brother while his whole face looks like a very riped tomato.

“For your last 2 teammates, Mr. Carriedo?”

Antonio has now pressed the button and his next team mate is…

Mexico, the South.

Alejandro Manuel Martinez, the personification of the southern part of the United Mexican States, is barely surprised to the random selection. Why that random selector is not random as it is? He asks himself.

Then Antonio has pressed the button again and his last team mate is…

South Korea.

 _Now that is random._ Alejandro has now retracted what he thought earlier as he narrows his eyes in disbelief.

Yong Soo, meanwhile, has no complaints for being with Spain’s team. His relation with Antonio is quite normal as they are not that close. He only knows that he is the former colonizer of his friend, Perla.

“Thank you, Mr. Carriedo. Then Team 7 is now complete! To recap, the seventh team comprises of Spain, Italy, the South; Mexico, the South; and South Korea.”

Antonio is now returning to his seat and he is satisfied with the results.

“Alright, we will now continue with the eighth team…” Henri now pressed the button to see who will form his/her team next.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

After grueling hours of establishing teams for the UN Special Force, they have now about 50 teams that were formed to serve it. The results were satisfying enough for all parties although some are controversial.

Henri gladly sighs as his job for today is almost over. He’s got something on his sleeve before he could adjourn this meeting.

“Alright, now we have formed all the teams, I will now announce the name of our Special Force.” 

“We will be named the UN Personifications Special Force, also will be known as **The Avatars**.”

“Avatars? Are we some kind of a movie or something? That is so cool!” Alfred stupidly asks while talking to Arthur.

“Will you cut that rubbish?!” Arthurs chops Alfred’s head with his hand to keep him quiet.

“As you all know, we are the living representation of our respective countries. We are formed to protect our own sovereignty, our own people, and most important of all, our own existence. Throughout these years of living in this world, there were times that we are against each other but in forming this special force, we are showing the world that we can be united for a single great cause. We are here to take pride of our existence and we do not fear any threat that come to us. I personally admit, I do not agree on this move at first but seeing this moment of unity and hearing the words ‘we are what our people are’ from Mr. Jones two days ago, I was easily convinced on doing this. I forgot that I represent the United Nations, the very embodiment of this event. Thus, as a leader of this special force, I will do what it takes to do our duty and our oath as personifications.”

“That is all! The official business of the teams will be starting tomorrow and we will having a short briefing of what will be our functions but for now you may start to meet your respective team, if you like. This meeting is now adjourned!”

Henri uses the mallet as a sign of the adjournment of the meeting.

Then the nations, one by one, exit the hall. Some of them are already starting bonding to their respective teams especially Team 6 where Kiku’s teammates come to his seat to have small talks between them and Team 3 where Francis is already deciding for their roles in his team since he thinks they are the most balanced team in the special force.

As she exits the hall, Perla is definitely satisfied with her team but she can’t help but to think about what they exactly are going to do with the special force. It seems that it is not clear to her. But maybe and hopefully everything will be clear once they meet up tomorrow. She shrugged it off and as she walks…

“Hey Babe!!”

Perla turns and she saw a very excited Alfred F. Jones and he is coming to her.

“Oh Alfred! _Kamusta_? You seem to be excited for tomorrow, aren’t you?”

“Of course, my lady pearl! We’re gonna kick those bad guys’ asses and of course, I’m gonna be the hero! HAHAHAHA!!”

“Well… that’s good to know!” She smilingly replied to him.

“Perla, _mia amica_!!”

Perla turns to her front and she saw another excited figure, this time coming from the very cheerful Italian, Feliciano Vargas and he rushes to her to hug her.

“Oh Feli!” She opens her arms to give Feli a hug. “Wow _Kaibigan_. You too are excited for tomorrow, no?”

“ _Si_! I’m truly excited!” She smilingly replied as she pats Feli.

Behind Feliciano is the never changing stern face of Ludwig. 

“So, I assume you are ready for tomorrow?” Ludwig asks as he walks toward Feli, Perla and Alfred. Alfred groans as soon as Ludwig appears.

“Ready for what?” Perla is confused to the German’s question as soon as she released Feli.

“For our first day as a team.” Ludwig is really a fan for short replies.

“Ah. Of course!” Perla smilingly replied to Ludwig.

Ludwig can’t help but blush whenever he sees Perla smile. Maybe I am just uncomfortable when talking to women, he thought.

“A-alright then, starting tomorrow, after the briefing with Mr. Charleston, we will have a training and then we will have a short meeting about our roles. So don’t be late!”

“Hey wait a sec! I am the leader of this team and I am the one who will issue orders here! And you are just my subordinate!” Alfred furiously comes near to Ludwig while Perla and Feli back off.

“Sorry but you are too slow to act and decide. Maybe a little re-training can help.” Ludwig mocks Alfred.

“Here we go… we are not started our official business yet and the two of you are arguing again…” Perla heavily sighs. She cannot fathom the fact that these 2 are together in the same team. “Now now now… Why don’t we take a rest for tomorrow and let’s see what are we going to do then. Sounds good right?” She happily suggested as she breaks off the quarreling duo.

“Ok Babe. That’s fair for all of us.” Alfred sighs.

“Alright, that’s a good idea.” Ludwig backs off.

“Ok then, let’s see each other tomorrow, _mga kaibigan._ ” Perla walks off to the direction towards her room and wave to her teammates. “Have a nice rest!”

“Yay! SIESTA!! See you too!” Feliciano waves to Perla as he is getting excited to sleep.

“You too, Babe! And don’t be late for tomorrow!”

“I WON’T BE!!” Perla furiously turns to Alfred and blushes out of shame.

As soon as she walks, she is both excited and nervous at the same time... _Tomorrow will be another big day for us here. So what could happen? Let’s see…_ Perla thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, the personifications fight back and they really mean business... what they will exactly do and what will be the missions? Let's find out in the next chapters...
> 
> Translations:  
> 1\. Ihtiyar (Turkish) - Old Man  
> 2\. (Mio) Fratello (Italian) - (My) Brother  
> 3\. Dankeschön (German) - Thank you very much  
> 4\. Monseur (French) - Mister  
> 5\. Dummkopf (German) - Idiot  
> 6\. Dostum (Turkish) - My Friend  
> 7\. Hola Señor (Spanish) - Hello Mister  
> 8\. Kamusta (Filipino) - How are you?  
> 9\. Mia Amica (Italian) - My Friend  
> 10\. (Mga) Kaibigan (Filipino) - Friend(s)
> 
> I hope you enjoy this latest update! Bye for now! :)


	8. Engage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile in Italy...

In an apartment at Fornase, 17.2 km. to Venice, Italy

“Gio…”

_Huh?! What was that? A voice?_

“GIO!!”

_Someone’s calling me? A woman?_

“HEY GIO!! WAKE UP!!” 

Gio snaps out of his sleep in the table as he gets up quickly and saw a brunette guy…

“HEY!!! You…” Gio angrily responded to his comrade, Tom.

“Sorry buddy but isn’t this the time you wake up? Look at the clock, you sleepy knucklehead!”

He looks at the clock near the kitchen; it is already 9:47 AM.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU WAKE ME UP SOONER?!” Gio shouts

“I DID! BUT YOU ARE AS COLD AS OIL YOU FREAK!!” Tom shouts

“Now now now… You two… How about a cup of coffee for you guys?” Rinna breaks in as the two are going to have a bad fight… again…

“Alright…” the two weakly replies to the blonde pony tailed girl’s suggestion and sits in the wooden dining chair.

Rinna gets the coffee maker and pours two mugs.

“I’ve been wondering Gio. Lately, you’ve been sleeping longer than your usual…” Rinna noticed. It’s been days since Orsino has been introduced to them and they have decided to go to the town of Fornase because of some lead they got from the big guy.

“Yeah, I notice that too bud! Are you feeling alright there?” Tom gets near again to Gio to check up on him.

“Hey cut it out! Yeah I’m fine! I guess I have been working too much since that old man got us in this situation.” The stoic face of Gio seems have changed ever since.

“You don’t say…” Rinna agrees as they are having more workloads than the usual. She is also feeling the effects of stress but not as prevalent as Gio’s. “Hey, how about breakfast for you Gio?”

“Oh sure. Thanks Rinna!” Gio smiles to her as his stomach coincidentally grumbles.

Rinna blushes on Gio’s gesture. She looks in another way the moment she blushed. She rarely sees that black haired guy smile. “O-ok, I’ll ready that for y-you…”

“Hey hey! How about me, Rinna-chan?” Tom happily asks Rinna for breakfast.

“No way! You just have your share of the _panfocaccia_ earlier!”

“Awww… why so mean to me?”

Rinna giggled as she prepares Gio’s breakfast and then…

“Guys!!”

Everyone turned to see who that person is…

“Old Man! You seem so bushed!” Tom greets the Italian.

The Italian sits to the nearby sofa and he is panting from running. Rinna stops preparing breakfast for the meantime to get some water for him.

“ _Si_. I have gone to _Venezia_ to check on something.”

“Wait, what exactly is going on there?” Gio asks as Rinna gives water to the Italian in which he drinks. “The lead tells us that some independence movement is ongoing here at the heart of the Veneto Region. Then, what is its connection on finding more about those people?”

“Well, that Orsino guy is the one who brought us here. I’ve been wondering about that too.” Tom states his agreement to Gio’s question.

Gio suddenly groaned as soon as Tom mentions Orsino’s name.

“By the way, where is he?” Gio asks.

“I believe he is also out too. Though, he didn’t tell where he is going.” Rinna responds.  
The Italian raises his hand to interrupt. “Well, as far as my research goes, I believe if the people of Veneto are able to gain their independence against Italia, we can see how a personified country be born. But how and when exactly that will happen, we do not know yet.”

“If that’s the case, then it makes sense that will be the reason we’re here.” Gio agrees to the Italian’s thinking.

“But what are the odds that Veneto will get its independence?” Rinna speculates.

“I say it’s not that high. First, they have just made an online referendum which will make it non-binding and unofficial. Second, they have not yet raised it to the central government. And third, as if the Italian Government will allow that!” Tom has raised his opinion about it.

“Ohhh Tom, you made a thorough research, eh?” Rinna teases Tom

“But of course! If I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t call myself a journalist.” Tom is being proud to that.

“If that is the case, then we shouldn’t be even bothering to be here. We should just go to Scotland or Catalonia where their independence have greater odds than here. The greater the odds, the stronger the lead that we have.” Gio contemplates.

“I don’t think that will be necessary…”

A strong voice suddenly interrupts their conversation and then they saw a big bald guy in a black suit.

“Orsino! Where have you’ve been?” Tom asks.

“Oh! I just walking around the town to see what’s up.” Orsino replied and then he sits to the single sofa near where the Italian sits.

“Then why is so?” Gio questions Orsino.

“Well, I got information that the regional government will use some force to become one.” Orsino calmly replies.

“Don’t tell me… you mean they will result into violence?!” Rinna was shocked to that.

“No, that’s not what I meant. If they use one, they will surely be thwarted by the Italian Government. Just like what happened days ago when the police arrested bunch of separatist officers as allegedly they are making a make-shift tank out of a bulldozer.” Orsino is calmly talks while his face is a bit stern. He has some scary features.

“So, what do you really mean by ‘using some force?’” Gio asks ahead.

“Well, as I have found out, they are going to use someone to become Veneto’s personification.” Orsino says.

“What?! How ridiculous is that? _Questo è pazzo_!” The Italian stood up in shock.

“Yeah. It is really ridiculous.” Gio calmly responded as he sighs from the old man’s reaction.

“It may be ridiculous as it sounds but it is true.” Orsino faces Gio as if challenging him for a debate.

“So if it is true, then how will they do it?” The Italian asks Orsino

“That’s why we are here. That’s enough reason.” 

“How do we know if your information is reliable?” Gio, again, questions Orsino.

“Well, it is best to see it for our own eyes. Our job is to find out the truth, remember?”   
Gio sighs. He seems to concede his defeat. “Alright, let’s go. We may find our answers there.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------

The Avatars’ Island HQ, a day after the announcement.

“Uuuhhnnn…” A tropical nation seems to struggle in waking up in the morning…

“ _Anak ng…_ What was…. That… unnn…” The Filipina seems to be distracted to the alarm.  
She looks at the clock with one eye close and the other one barely open. It is 6:03 AM.

“WAAHHHH!!” Suddenly she gets herself up while holding the digital alarm clock. “PATAY!! And just when I said to Alfred I’m not going to be late… now, I have to get ready fast… For sure, Ludwig will scold me too for this!”

Perla groaned at the thought that she will be scolded by Alfred and Ludwig. Thus, she runs towards to the bathroom to take a bath and to do her daily routine like brushing her teeth, gargling her mouth and doing some facial regimen that a typical lady does. She then picks up the Avatar’s formal military uniform that she received last night thru the delivery. It is in full black and it is fully seamed. Its white silvery linings and buttons are perfectly pressed that make the coat more elegant. Then, it has also white polo and black necktie. At the time she received the dress, the deliverer also make her choose the skirt, it can be a mini flare skirt that is above knee line, a straight skirt that is 1 inch below the knee line, a long flare skirt, and a straight classic pants; all are black and complements to the black boots or heeled leather shoes that she have. She took time to choose among these options and she finally chose the straight skirt in which she thought will fit for her style.

Then she now dresses herself fast. There is about 14 minutes left for her to go to the main hall. She did not even bother to prepare and eat her breakfast.  She is now fixing her make-up and put some badges on her coat. She now styles her hair with a ponytail in her upper back of her head but keeps some hair loose on both sides. She puts her signature three-sampaguita hairclip to her right loose hair and then her military cap.

And she’s done. All she has to do is to run as fast as she could. She now puts her black leather heel shoes on and goes out of the room quickly to make it before the orientation starts. It’s about to start at the next 6 minutes.

_Oh no! Not again…_ Perla breathes out a heavy sigh as she remembers the thought of her being late on her first day at work in the Avatars. She is running so fast.  
The main hall is about half a kilometer distance from her room. It is an elegant building with wide corridors. It’s more like an old-style European designed building. She can still see more people coming to the hall but she cannot afford of just walking it because she thought that things will get worse.

Then 3 minutes is left and miraculously she arrived just in time. She is bushed! But she checked herself if she still looks fine and for some reason, she didn’t even have a sweat. Maybe her body is used to her habit.

_Hay… Salamat sa Diyos!_ She praised God for another miracle happened to her.

Then she looks for her teammates. Almost all nations are already gathered there and while looking for them she waves her greeting to those who saw her and greets them as well. Others can’t help but to stare at her.

Right there and there, she saw Alfred on the side clinging to the window. He seems to be on thought.

“Hey Alfred!” Perla calls him.

“Yo-“

Alfred stopped and he looked to Perla as she is stunning to her military uniform along with her new hairstyle. He can’t help but awe to her radiating beauty in the morning.

“Hey! Alfred! Are you ok?”

“Oh! I’m sorry Babe… I just can’t help but to keep staring at you… You look great today…”

Perla blushed to her friend’s complement. “Oh! You tease! Stop embarrassing me…” She chuckled a bit after saying that.

“Hey, no, it’s true… really…” Alfred smiles to her.

Perla blushed a bit more. “Oh… really? Thanks!” She smiled at him. A great way to start the morning indeed. “Oh, by the way, where are Ludwig and Feli?”

“I don’t know-“

“PERLA!!”

They heard an Italian running towards her again as same as yesterday. He is also wearing also the military uniform of their special force. Perla waved her greetings to Feli.   
“ _Magandang Umaga, kaibigan_!”

“ _Buongiorno_ , Perla _mia amica_! Alfred _mio amico_!” Feliciano greets the two. Alfred nod to acknowledge Feli. “Wow you look _magnifico_!”

“ _Salamat_ Feli! You too! You look _pogi_ on that!”

“Of course! It's natural for me to be handsome! HAHAHA..."

Alfred narrowed his eyes to the Italian's declaration while Perla does nothing but smile and chuckle to her friend's antics.

"So, it seems that everyone is here..." A German comes to them to complete Team 1.

"Hello Ludwig! _Magandang umaga sa iyo_!" Perla happily greets the German as she waves her hand.

"O-oh H-hello Perla,   _G-guten Morgen._ " Ludwig blushes while he greets back to Perla.

"Is something wrong?" Perla asks as she felt odd to Ludwig's action.

" _Nein_ , n-not at all. Sorry for that." Ludwig was able to recover from his shyness.

" _Buongiorno_ , Ludwig _mio amico_!" Feli greets Ludwig as he comes near him and attempts to hug him.

" _Guten Morgen_ , Feliciano." Ludwig lifts his hand to stop Feli from hugging him especially since they are wearing unforms.

"By the way, Ludwig, you look great on that." Perla is truly impressed on how he wears the uniform.

" _D-Danke_."  He looks away again to the side and blushes.

"Hey hey! The orientation is about to start! We should take our seats there!" Alfred suddenly cuts the conversation.

"Ah right! Shall we?" Perla agrees as he refers to the other 2.

"I agree. We should head there." Ludwig is back to his normal self.

Team 1 is now going to their reserved table as breakfast is also serving there.  
Meanwhile, other teams are beginning to bond and they are communicating very well.

Team 2, led by Arthur Kirkland, is already starting to have a bond thru their talks about their homes. Although, they are his former colonies, they are not really close to each other (in exception to Daniel and Jesse) at the time when they were under British Rule but Michelle is starting to be at ease with the 2 nations from Oceania. Arthur is very much happy and he feels a bit nostalgic.

Team 3, led by Francis Bonnefoy, is already in their seats. They are not talking. They are just focused to their breakfast. But it seems that they have already understanding to their respective roles as they have talked about the night before. Matthew is cuddling his pet polar bear, Kumajiro. Genevieve is eating gracefully while Manu is just staring to the front as he waits for the orientation to begin.

Team 4, led by Ivan Braginsky, has a different atmosphere. Very intimidating. Natalya is keeping bothering her brother by sitting by his side and she wants to feed her brother much to Ivan's chagrin. Toris, as he is seating at the left of Ivan, is very scared to him as always. While Carlos is just sitting there and enjoying whatever he is seeing with his teammates.

Team 5, led by Wang Yao, is, in a weird way, are getting along well. Yao is offering his team food and some things he made by himself. Seung Min is more than obliged to take whatever Yao has offered. He regards Yao with high respect as he is the one of the few nations who has accepted him. Joseph quietly accepts Yao’s offerings and eats the Chinese food (along with the provided breakfast). He is sure a big eater which is understandable due to his big stature. While Dayana only picks the Chinese’s vegetable dish and tea because she thinks that his meat dishes will make her fat. She also picks whatever she can eat on her provided breakfast. While eating, she also keeps looking to Carlos secretly and whenever Carlos notices who stares at him, she quickly changes her view and blushes.

But Team 1 is very different. As soon as they got their seats, they immediately dig in to the food served to them. Alfred is a very picky eater. He only eats meat and not very fond of vegetables and he is a loud eater. Perla and Ludwig notice it. While Feliciano does not like the food as he only lives with Pasta, Pizza and everything Italian and he is being noisy out of irritation. Perla and Ludwig also noticed it too. Unlike the two, Perla and Ludwig are not picky eaters. They are irritated by the other two’s picky habits. While Perla just sighed and focused on her own eating, she did not expect what comes next.

A totally irritated German angrily stood up and smashes his hands to the table…

“YOU TWO!! EAT YOUR FOOD!! NOW!!”

Everyone has their eyes to the angry German… Feliciano is terrified once again…

“Huh? What did you say?” Alfred mocks Ludwig again…

“I SAID EAT YOUR FOOD!! YOU WASTE TOO MUCH FOOD!!”

“No need to yell dude! Geeezz… And I don’t eat vegetables so knock it off, Sausage-Loser! HAHAHAHA!!” Alfred stands to face the German. 

Perla is now totally irritated to what is happening… 

“Would you two stop… For once… You’re embarrassing our team on our very first day…” Perla stands while her brows is twitching and cuts the two off before it gets worse.

Alfred and Ludwig now look to the tables surrounding them… All the glares are with them… 

Their peace was suddenly disturbed… They are now blushing due to their embarrassment.

Francis and Arthur cannot help but laugh at the American and German’s antics

Yao is irritated while Ivan enjoys watching their nagging moment.

Kiku is deeply concerned to the situation. He cannot help but to feel pity to Perla.

Antonio has the same sentiments as Kiku but he is more concerned to his hija than Kiku is to her.

“Sorry…” The two murmured and they are going back to their seat and so as Perla.

Perla consoles Feli and promises to make his dish later. Then she goes back in eating whatever remains in her breakfast.

The two meanwhile can’t stop glaring at each other.

Suddenly…

“Good Morning everyone! We are now starting the orientation. So please pay attention to the details that Mr. Charleston has to announce. So let us give a round of applause to the Commanding Leader of the UNPSF, Mr. Henri Charleston.”

Everyone claps their hands to acknowledge the leader’s presence. He is now appearing from the stage.

Henri is also wearing their uniform but it has more badges due to his position. He is also wearing a black cape.

“Good Morning everyone! I hope you are enjoying your breakfast especially after Team 1 is having a small commotion.”

Alfred, Ludwig and Perla can’t help but groan and feel embarrass to Henri’s sarcastic remarks. Eyes are staring to their table again.

“Alright, now, shall we start?” A screen suddenly descends from the ceiling and it opens. A slideshow is being presented to them. The logo of UNPSF appears before them. The logo is similar to the UN logo itself except that it has 6 gems with different colors in the circular side of the globe and the dove with a laurel on its mouth which symbolizes peace is on the top of the globe. The slideshow has the UN blue background as well.

“Now all of you know about why we are formed and what our objectives are. But you have to know how we should do things here and how this be done.”

“You are now formed into a four-member team. It should compose of one team leader or commander, one team deputy leader or deputy commander, and two executive members. The team leaders are already selected by yesterday’s draw so you have to choose among the three remaining members who will be the deputy leader. The role of the leader is to, of course, lead the team and he/she is responsible for handling missions and give necessary orders to the team. You will be the primary contacts whenever a mission is available to you and also you will be the primary strategist in executing the accomplishment of your mission properly. You are also the one who will make decisions when it comes to your team’s logistics and you have the final say to any crucial decisions that you will have to make during the course of the mission.”

Alfred clasps his hands as if he has won a raffle and smiles happily. 

“But, it doesn’t mean that you will have to monopolize the decision making for yourself. You have to listen also to what your members has to say. They might have great ideas. That is why you are also going to preside a mission briefing or any meeting that has team-related issues. Meetings are great avenue for strategizing and creating new ideas as well.”

Now, Ludwig mockingly smiles at Alfred. Alfred cannot help but grind his teeth and glares to Ludwig.

“Then, in case that the team leader is not available, then the deputy team leader will substitute for the team. But that’s not the only role of the deputy leader. He/she will be the support in making decisions for the team and also he/she can be delegated to different sub-missions if needed upon the discretion of the team leader with one executive member with him/her.”

“As for the executive members, they will be the support before, during and after the missions and also when you are here to the HQ.”

“And also, you are to form committees per team. These are the medical, intelligence and security, supply and logistics, grievance and staff management, and engineering and technical committees. The committee leads do not limit either to the team leader or to the deputy team leader. The executive members can be also become committee leads as necessary. You are now to talk among yourselves who are going to handle those committees I have mentioned.”

“Now, speaking of staff, you will be given people to help you manage the missions and also the team itself. The staff is not limited to your respective nationalities and we will ensure that they will be trustworthy enough to help us on our cause. They will be given initial roles to your team thus you don’t have to worry for that but what comes after that will be on your own although any recommendation from your end should be submitted to my office and it will be for my approval.”

“Each of you will be given command centers to monitor the team’s actions during missions and also for easier mode of communication to the Central HQ Command Center. Later I will tour you to the Central Command Center and of course you will be introduced to your respective team’s command center.”

“Now, as for the missions, I am the one who will directly give you missions. There are 3 types of missions that I can give to you: First, the intelligence mission, wherein you will discreetly gather information to a certain person or group of people. You are also going to monitor a target’s actions to know, for example, that certain person’s motive in waging war to a certain place or country; Second, the rescue mission, wherein you are, as the word implies, to rescue a certain important person or a personification itself. You are also going to guard that somebody, for example, to prevent him to be kidnapped or to be killed; Then lastly, the relief mission, wherein you are being sent to save a community or even a country’s citizens from a certain disaster, war or even violent revolutions.”

“HEY OLD MAN!!” Alfred exaggeratedly raises his hand to ask something.

“Yes, Mr. Jones?” Henri reluctantly abides to Alfred’s request. He is twitching his brows.

“What about those missions in which can prevent all of those things to happen? Especially, those incidents involving our gems and the gems of those who are like us?” He clinches his fist and puts in his heart to point the location of his sovereignty gem.

“You are right, Mr. Jones. Then as he suggested, we should add 2 more types. The fourth will be the assassination missions in which we have to eliminate by all means those people who are big threats on our existence. And the fifth one will be the intervention missions in which we will have to take control of the situation if and only if the national government of a certain country cannot handle it well.”

“Are you satisfied with that, Mr. Jones?”

“THAT’S THE WAY I LIKE IT, OLD MAN!! HAHAHAHA!!” Alfred does his signature gesture; the American Thumbs Up then looks to Ludwig to mock him.

Ludwig once again groans as his rival’s suggestions were taken. He is actually thinking the same thing.

“But, of course it does not mean that we have to limit our missions to these 5 types. We may do a combination of some or all of these types as necessary depending on the situation.”

“In regards with our powers, you are only allowed to release up to Level 1 only which only activates once you call your official country name. You can only use the Level 2 upon your respective leader’s permission and the Level 3 upwards upon my approval in which also have to depend on the situation. As for the leader’s Level 2, it should be released upon my approval. You know the dangers of using high level power, right?”

“Well, not exactly to someone right there…” Ludwig looks to Alfred with a mocking smile.

“What did you say?” Alfred looks at Ludwig with intensity of anger and irritation.

“Shhh!! Cut that out you two!” Perla reprimands the two in minimal voice without looking at them.

“Hmph!” The two goes back to listening to Henri.

Henri now moves on to the next slide.

“Well, any actions that you do that are deterrent to the success of our missions will have certain punishments. But, of course, it is with due process. You will have to justify why such action has been done. There will be separate committee that will handle those cases in which it is a separate group from you. I will lead that one also. The members will be your respective UN commissioners in which you will have to face them in trial. But there will be only 6 members so they will be elected on the next general assembly.”

“Now, for the facilities, inside of your own command centers there will be a room for your team to work exclusively for you. There will be 4 desks, which are found in all corners of your room ready for you to use with built-in computers and any necessary accessories and office supplies. Also in your work room, there is a pantry inside for you to share your national delicacy to others and of course for coffee breaks.”

Feliciano seems to be happy when he heard about the pantry.

“Another room to note is the artillery room, where in there is already available weapons for you to choose. You can see that there are vast of weapons here. Aside from that, inside the artillery room is the weapons development and testing portion of the room. It is also complete with necessary gadgetry and machines to further develop our weaponry. Of course, if you feel that your developed weapon can be used by all teams, this has to be improved by me upon testing its power and safety measures. No development of any nuclear related weaponry will be allowed or you will face sanctions against your country.”

“Then we have here the strategy room wherein you will have to talk among yourselves in regards with how you will decide on your actions before and during missions. You can also talk about any administrative issues you have on your team in regards with your staff.”

“Outside our command centers, we have the Hospital for any medical concerns, the World’s Canteen to taste what the world has to offer, the World’s Gymnasium and Sports Center for all international sports, the World Library to share the world’s knowledge, the Hangar and the Communications Center for our human staff to get in touch with their family.”

“Aside from our military duties, we are also going to have festivals and events here at the island. Like, the Olympic-like Sports fest in which we will showcase our talents and athleticism, the UN Day of course, the Cultural Festivals and the like upon the discretion of the UN Management.”

“So, this ends our orientation session, Do you have any questions?”

Everyone is silent. It seems everything is clear to them.

“Alright, you will now go to your respective work rooms for the meantime since we are still going to provide you staff. You will be accompanied by our soldiers there.”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

A soldier is now guiding Team 1 to their work room. Its location is in the northern section of the building which also has the Team 1’s command center which will be opened once there are already staffs assigned to them.

The HQ building is a circular 3 storey building with pathways going to the 11 sections. The said sections have 5 command centers which will be the base of operations for each team. Team 1 will take the 3rd section of the northern part.

As the soldier gives them the keycards of their command center to Alfred, Perla, Ludwig and Feliciano, they can’t help but be excited on what will come up. They have tested each keycard if they are functional and they are able to open the door using these. The soldier salutes to them as he leans to the left side of the door and then the 4 goes inside.

As Team 1 enters their command center, the light automatically opened in a very high tech fashion because there is no switch for it. There are 2 stairs from both sides leading to the different workstations for the staffs. There is also 1 stair in front on them leading to the seats of command. There were also 5 large monitors used for communications and monitoring; the biggest is in the middle, then 2 for each sides. 

“Wow… looks awesome!! It’s totally cool!” Alfred jumps in to leader’s seat which is already in front of him. There are 4 other seats on it, one in front of Alfred’s and one in each side of Alfred’s seat.

The whole team is now checking the area out. They are amazed on how technologically advanced this room has especially Ludwig.

“These are very useful for our missions. It’s really advanced!” Ludwig cannot help but be impressed with the facilities that the room has to offer.

“Veee~! I wonder what can this do.” Feliciano is about to push something.

“NEIN!! DON’T PUSH THAT YOU FOOL!!” Ludwig is able to catch Feli’s hand before he pushes that button.

“S-so-sorry!!” Feliciano again is scared…

Then they proceed to the 2nd room to the left in which this will serve as their workroom. It has 4 tables that has everything like an office setting. It also has huge screen in the right side of the door. There is also a pantry just like has Henri announced to them.

“Wow!! This looks nice!” Perla clearly was amazed on what she is seeing. She goes near to the white table to see all the stuff there. She even touched the desktop computer installed in it. 

“Very nice indeed…” Ludwig couldn’t agree more on Perla.

“Now we have to decide on our seats! I’ll take this!” Alfred refers to the desk near the window in which is a typical seat for a leader of a team.

“Oh! And I’ll take this side.” Perla also chose her seat which is the one near the inner kitchen/pantry which is in the left side of the room.

“Good choice Babe! You can go to the pantry easily to make us food!” Alfred was delighted to her choice which doing his usual gesture: the thumbs up.

“What?! No way! Am I your maid?!” Perla reacted.

“Hey I’m just joking Babe! Hahahaha!!”

“That’s not a good joke, Alfred!” Perla sits in dismay.

“Ok then, I’ll take this one.” Ludwig chose the 1st desk on the right side which is near Alfred’s and in front of Perla’s.

“Yay! Then I’ll be on this one!” Feliciano chose the 2nd desk on the right side which is beside Ludwig’s and near to the door. “So Ludwig can work for me when I have my siesta…” He says it cheerfully.

“Hey! You will not going to have siesta here!” Ludwig reprimands Feliciano again. 

Suddenly, the screen in the right side of the door flashes with the UNPSF logo with blue background. All of them look to it.

Then, Henri appears on it.

“HEY OLD MAN! WAZZUP?!” Alfred loudly greets Henri and waves his hand. While Ludwig and Perla salute to Henri, Feliciano just looks on it. Henri salutes back to them.

“Greetings Team 1, welcome to your workroom. How do you like it?”

“Well, this is perfect!!” Alfred is not hiding is impression in the workroom.

“It is indeed great. _Wunderbar_!” The usually stern faced Ludwig is also excited to work.

“Alright. I am here to give you your first mission.”

“WOW!! RIGHT ON OLD MAN! TIME TO BE A HERO! HAHAHAHA!” Alfred is clearly excited.

Henri shakes his head in disbelief on the American’s excitement.

“Now, your first mission will be…”

Alfred cannot hold his excitement anymore.

Ludwig and Perla are just “patiently” waiting for Henri’s announcement.

Feliciano is again out of the blue... but this time he wants to hear what Henri has to say.

“It will be in Venice.”

Alfred, Ludwig and Perla widened their eyes in their disbelief. Their first mission will be in Feliciano’s home city.

“VEEE!!! I’M GOING HOME!!” Feliciano is now getting excited in this mission as he jumps in joy. Indeed it is his home turf.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another exciting chapter is happening here... The Avatars are now starting to act. What will they do to their first mission and why in Venice? The answers are in the next chapter.
> 
> Also, the reporters are also going to Venice. What connections do they have in going there? Is this related to the Team 1's very first mission?
> 
> Translations:  
> 1\. Si (Italian/Spanish) - Yes  
> 2\. Venezia (Italian) - Venice  
> 3\. Questo è pazzo (Italian) - This is crazy  
> 4\. Anak ng... (Filipino) - Son of a...  
> 5\. Hay Salamat sa Diyos! (Filipino) - Oh Thanks be to God/Praise God  
> 6\. Buongiorno (Italian); Guten Morgen (German); Magandang Umaga sa iyo (Filipino) - Good morning (to you)  
> 7\. Mia Amica/Mio Amico (Italian); Kaibigan (Filipino) - (My) Friend  
> 8\. Magnifico (Italian) - Magnificent  
> 9\. Pogi (Filipino) - Handsome  
> 10\. Danke (German) - Thanks  
> 11\. Nein (German) - No  
> 12\. Wunderbar (German) - Wonderful
> 
> Some Notes:  
> 1\. Panfocaccia - It is an Italian Bread that is the pan variant of their focaccia in which is something like pizza. For more details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panfocaccia and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focaccia  
> 2\. There is an ongoing independence movement in Veneto Region (in which Venice is located) to revive the old Venetian Republic in which it has been existent from 697 to 1797. They also held a referendum last March 2014 although this is done thru an online plebiscite and unofficial. For more details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice_Republic and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice_referendum,_2014
> 
> I hope you will stick around for more! Like always, kindly put your feedback, suggestions and any clarifications in the comments if you have any. Enjoy! :)


	9. Benvenuto

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 1 has now arrived in Venice...

"We're here... Finally..."

"Oh yeah! Let's kick some bu-"

"Hey! We're not here to hurt somebody. We're just here to investigate."

"No way Babe! That's boring! I want some action!"

"YAY!! CIAO VENEZIA!! I'M HOME!!"

Team 1 has just arrived in the Queen of the Adriatic Sea, Venice. A lovely and soothing morning breeze greets the team as they got off the jet plane provided by UNPSF. They are quite unsure what their mission is all about. 

At the time that the mission has been given to them, in exactly 2 days ago, all Henri can tell them is to investigate "series of events" happening in Venice and report it to him. Even Feliciano does not know what exactly is going on in his home, though part of the reason may attribute to his absent-mindedness. Ludwig tries to ask about further details of their mission but to no avail. Henri just gave them specific instructions (i.e. stay in a designated hotel, look around for specific clues to those "events", etc.). Perla tries to think critically although she cannot truly understand everything also. Alfred is just pumped up of having a mission and kick some butt.

And he still is...

"COME ON GUYS!! HURRY UP!!" Feliciano excitedly shouts from afar and waves his arms to his teammates as he goes on ahead walking towards outside the Venice Airport runway.

"We'recoming!" Perla shouts back. "What a lovely weather... I wish we are just sightseeing here instead of doing some mission we do not know about."

"Don't complain. We are here for work not for some leisure." Ludwig replies in his stoic fashion.

"I know... I know..." Perla laments. "But this guy here, he's more excited to do this than Feli's has been excited to go home!" She told Ludwig while using her thumb to point at Alfred and she sighs.

Alfred meanwhile excitedly runs towards Feliciano to accompany him. He is truly pumped up! He thinks that this is the time he must show off (especially to Perla) of his latest battle antics.

Perla and Ludwig meanwhile walk side by side as they follow the 2. They each bought their own luggage. It must be a long mission ahead.

As they walk towards the airport's main area...

"Hm?" Ludwig seems to notice something as he turns back.

"Ludwig? What's wrong?" Perla noticed her teammate.

"Uh... Nothing... I just thought something I might have forgotten..."

"Um... But, You seem like a guy who won't forget everything though... Oh well, if it's really nothing then let's go?"

"Y-Yeah, l-let us go." Ludwig nervously replies then he sighs.

They are about to enter the airport premises.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey! Old Man! You said we are going to Venice. Then, Why are we going to the airport?" Tom, who is in the backseat, asks the Italian while the old man drives.

"Because I _felt_ something that will lead us to our clue." The Italian cheerily said to Tom and somehow, at least at Tom's point of view, stupidly smiles.

"Huh?! Are you freaking serious there old man?! We are just wasting a freak amount of time! And what do you mean you _felt_ it?!" Tom is making a WTF face.

"I..." The Italian seems hesitating on whatever he is going to say. Tom seems to noticed it. "Ugh!! Just trust me here! Si?"

"But-"

"No Buts! We have to go there, _idiota_! Or else I'll tell Rin-"

"Alright! Alright! No need to blackmail me! Jeez..." Tom surrenders while blushing about something.

"HAHAHA!! _Questo è il mio_ _ragazzo_ _!_ " The Italian is definitely excited now.

Earlier the day, the journalists have split into 2 groups, the first group comprised of Gio, Rinna and Orsino while the second group comprised of The Italian and Tom. They do not understand why does the Italian have the group split into 2. But Gio just let it slide thus Gio's group will go on ahead to Venice while The Italian's group will be going to the airport (although the Italian does not mention to Gio that they will go to the airport instead).

The Italian does really know how to tame a wild beast that is Tom.

"But, seriously, are we going to catch a flight somewhere eh, old man?"

"No, we don't. We'll just go there. We may see something _very important_ there, I can _feel_ it."

"Huh? Alright... We'll just see what happens..." Tom just sighed as a sign of his surrender from the old man's _antics_.

Before they knew it, they were already at the airport and as soon as the Italian parks the car, He instructed Tom to ready their cameras as he _feels_ that they will get their _clue_ from there. Tom begrudgingly complies.

"Hey Old Geezer! Do you think we can find what we are looking for here?" Tom critically asks the Italian as he gets the cameras ready.

"What do you think? As I said, I'm _a bit_ sure we can find it here. My journalistic _instincts_ are kicking again. I just knew it!" The Italian reiterates his decision to Tom while smiling big.

"Geez.. You're so stupid as ever..."

"Don't complain, lover boy! _Andiamo_!"

Tom is gritting his teeth as the old man teases him. They got out of their car and bring their cameras with them. They are now walking towards the Venice Marco Polo Airport.

The airport is known to be the gateway to Venice. The design is very simplistic yet elegant at the same time. It's rather a very busy airport with many tourists from around the world are arriving to see the Queen of the Adriatic Sea and many are also departing to tell their beautiful and magical experience they have to their loved ones.

Tom and the Italian are now in front of the arrival area.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

"Actually, I have a suggestion." Ludwig promptly said as he wants to stop Perla from walking further.

"Ah... Alright, let me hear it." Perla stops immediately and turns to Ludwig. She's a bit confused on Ludwig's sudden urge to suggest.

"Uhh... P-perhaps, it is best to call America and Italy's attention. W-we a-are a team anyway." Ludwig flushes once again as soon as Perla faces him.

"Oh! Ok then. HEY ALFRED! FELI!! COME HERE!!" Perla shouts to afar to call Alfred and Feliciano who are very far away from them. People are now looking at her and with their irritated eyes staring at her.

"H-hey! You don't have to shout out loud!" Ludwig whispery reprimands Perla.

"Ah! _Mi Dispiace!_ " Perla is clearly embarrassed on her gesture and she and Ludwig are now escaping further conflict with their heads bow down. They are now running towards Alfred and Feliciano who stopped upon Perla's loud call.

"Hey Babe! Nice call!" Alfred teases her and winks.

"Hey! Stop that!" Perla is still embarrassed. She now turns to Ludwig who is slightly annoyed. "L-Ludwig, what are going to say to us earlier?"

"Oh... I was going to say... That we should take the water bus..."

"Wow! That would be cool, man!" Alfred surprisingly agrees. Feliciano also seems to be happy with the suggestion as he smiles happily.

"Wow... I thought you guys don't have anything to agree on... Well, I guess this is a rare moment for our team..." Perla teases the two.

"Hey! It's not that, Babe!" Alfred blushes. "It's just that it would be coolif we take that water bus, you know?"

"Eeeee.... Really Alfred? It's that it....?" Perla teases him more as she nears to his face.

"Yeah... Really..." Alfred's a little bit pissed about Perla's teasing. "So, Are we getting a jet boat?"

"NO WE ARE NOT! _DUMMKOPF_!" Ludwig is once again blasts out his irritation to Alfred.

"No way! Why is that?"

"Are you really this stu-"

"Hey, you know what? Let's see what Feli will say since he is from here, right Feli?" Perla stopped Ludwig and Alfred from bickering again. 

"Eh? Perla?" Feli seems pressured on Perla's sudden suggestion.

"C'mon Feli! Tell us something about this water bus."

"Yeah Italy tell us more!" Alfred suddenly becomes enthusiastic.

"Our _Vaporetti_ are superb! It is wayfaster and more convenient than to walk in _Venezia_!" Feli instantly become enthusiastic on showing off his city.

"WOW REALLY?! COOL!! Then when what are we waiting for guys! Let's go! HAHAHA!" Alfred excitingly agrees.

"Alright. It is settled. To the water bus station then!" Perla too has become excited.

"Hey... T-thanks..." Ludwig shyly said to Perla while blushing.

"No worries. I just don't want to have further conflicts on our very first mission." Perla responses while walking towards the water bus station near at the airport with her teammates. "Why did you suddenly suggest to take a water bus?" She curiously asks Ludwig.

"It seems someone is watching over us... I just felt it... I'm not comfortable on taking a risk on going to a land transportation to the city knowing someone is following us..."

"Really? Your intuition seems strong. Stronger than a woman's!" Perla jokingly notes.

"H-hey! What do you mean by that?!" Ludwig protests.

"I-I'm S-sorry! I'm just joking..." Perla was quickly intimidated to Ludwig's reactions.

"Oh.. S-sorry..." Suddenly everything between him and Perla becomes too awkward. Both of them stayed quiet as they continued walking towards the water bus station near the airport.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Can we really find that _clue_ you were saying a while ago, old man?!" Tom does complain a lot especially when it comes to the Italian's _matters_.

"Tom... You've asked me that question a lot of times... Can you just wait and see it for yourself?" The Italian is losing patience. Partly and obviously due to Tom's persistent questioning but also partly because of their _clue_ is yet to be found.

"Yikes! Old Man! Chill out! You're scaring me!" He rarely seen the Italian to be irritated like this. And for those times, he scare the hell out of him.

"You better be! And it will be much better if you can help me find this clue! Thanks!" He is really mad at Tom (although he is still smiling which makes him a lot scary).

"Right..."

As soon as he (reluctantly) agrees, he starts looking for it even though he does not have any idea what exactly they are looking for. Tom is truly a skeptical person when it comes to the old man's business. But despite all of those doubts he casts to the Italian, he is one of those people he truly respects due to the hardwork and dedication to his endeavors. No one is as truly committed as the Italian.

They are now staying in the waiting area of the arrivals section. As expected, many tourists from all around the world have arrived to see the magnificent beauty of Venice. Tom _might_ have a clue on what they are looking for as the Italian keeps looking for those arriving. The old man is truly eager to find _it_.

But suddenly...

"Hey Tom."

"Hm? What is it now?"

"I think we should get to the water bus."

"Huh? Are you-"

"Tom, just follow me okay? No complaints!"

The duo are now walking towards the water bus station.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Team 1 is now at the water bus station going to the city proper of Venice. Perla is the one on the line to buy tickets for all of them. She felt bummed as she hopes she won't be the "maid" of the group. But, it was Ludwig's idea and not Alfred's so she had no choice but to follow. Ludwig can be _too_ intimidating sometimes...

"Hey Italy! Can you make that line faster?" Alfred complains to Feliciano for the slow progress to the ticket counter.

"Don't be ridiculous, _Dummkopf_! I hate to say this but unfortunately, this is a normal thing not only in Venice but elsewhere in Italy." Ludwig is more irritated to the situation.

"Eh?! Don't be like that, Germany. If you told us that a bit earlier before we had our flight, we could have buy those online..." Feliciano defends.

"Huh? and why didn't you tell us sooner about this?" Ludwig has become more irritated.

"Hey guys! I'm done!" Perla shouts as she finished purchased their tickets.

"Alright! Let's go!" Alfred is truly excited for this.

"Uh. Hold on a second." Ludwig interrupts.

"What is it now?!" The American is now truly annoyed by these interruptions while Perla and Feliciano only looks to Ludwig as soon as they stopped walking.

"We have to put some cover while on the bus." Ludwig suggested.

"Huh? Why is that? And do we have anything to put on?" Perla asks.

"Uuhh... I guess sunglasses or caps might do..." Ludwig answers while touching his face thru his finger. " or some changes to your hair perhaps.." He now refers to Perla's hairdo. 

"Oh that's sounds cool!" Alfred unexpectedly agrees.

"Alright then..." Perla is somehow confused to her teammate's suggestion.

Alfred gets his favorite black baseball cap from his favorite baseball team, The New York Yankees.

Feliciano wears his sunglasses from Milan while Perla also wears hers (although in a local variant from her place). She also changed her hairstyle into a pair of pigtails.

Ludwig meanwhile wears his green military cap along with his own sunglasses.

"That'll do! Alright come on guys! Let's roll!" Alfred leads his team to board to their water bus.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Tom, buy us a ticket! Hurry!"

"What's the rush, old man?!"

"No complaints, I said and buy them!"

"Ok ok... you are being grumpy lately..."

"Yeah because you are being _un asino_..."

Tom rolls his eyes as soon as he reluctantly follows the old man's instruction. But it seems that the line is long enough to miss the bus that the Italian _want_ to take. He is getting more impatient and frustrated.

"Hey Tom! Just cut the line!! _Affrettatevi_!!"

"I cannot do that, you old sly!!" 

"Just do it! or else..."

And Tom just did that. He have to cut a line with an excuse of "accompanying an old man with Schizophrenia" and fortunately, the people were nice enough to let him go first. 

"Here!" Tom gives the Italian his ticket after he bought them.

"I see what you did there..." The Italian glares to him very fiercely.

"Hmph! Thanks to me, we are able to take that water bus! So don't glare me like that!"

"That's a good boy!" The Italian pats his head hard. Most probably for Tom telling to the people that he has schizophrenia.

"Aw! What's that for?!!" Tom yelling to the old man and people are starting to stare at them suspiciously.

The duo are now boarding the water bus going to Venice...

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Team 1 has already boarded the water bus when suddenly...

"What's the matter, Germany?" Feliciano is concerned with his friend's sudden _uneasiness_.

Ludwig's eyebrows is twitching despite having his sunglasses and cap on. It shows in his facial expression. Although, his face is usually stern and intimidating, he is currently on the edge about something...

"Yeah... is something wrong?" Perla is also concerned as she sits in between Ludwig and Alfred.

Ludwig just sighs... He just cannot explain what he feels easily...

"Just let him be, babe! He just having his _hormonal imbalance_." Alfred comments.

"What did you-"

" _TAHIMIK_! Why do you always argue to the most non-sense things?! Can't you just enjoy our journey here while it lasts?" Perla is having enough of the two..

The two of them just nods.

"Thank you!" Perla sits back and sighs. While Alfred put this head on his hand since he is seating at the edge, Ludwig just close his eyes yet he cannot let go on his _uneasiness_.

Feliciano, meanwhile, is just excited to be at home as he stares happily to the view from the window.

The _Vaporetto_ is not yet moving as it waits for more passengers to board. It may wait for 5 minutes. They were already boarded just 3 minutes ago.

"What taking this bus so long?! Hey Italy! Can't you just use your _influence_ over here!" Alfred whines about it.

"Sorry for killing your joy but unfortunately Italy has no influence over here..." Ludwig immediately interrupts. America and Philippines are now a bit confused.

"Huh?! That's weird? Aren't we personifications have power to influence when needed and especially we are in his home?" Perla asks curiously.

"He is a very special case. His bosses, even the previous ones, do not know him or Romano that much. And they are too carefree to influence his citizens. Well, maybe, except for cute girls though." Ludwig explains.

"Now I know why Italy is so useless..." Alfred is just more annoyed to the now known fact about Feliciano as he sits back to (im)patiently waits for the bus to move.

"Hey, don't say that Alfred. We may use his ability to swoon girls to gather information. Right, Ludwig?" Perla enthusiastically winks to Ludwig.

"I-I h-hope so..." Germany just agrees to Perla's suggestion while flushing.

"Speaking of cute things though, I saw a very cute toddler earlier from another private plane. He is so cute and adorable that I wanna pinch his chubby cheeks!" Perla suddenly flushes and giggles as she remembers that moment.

"Huh? Really babe??" Alfred pretends to be interested although he is good at acting that Perla or anyone never notices it. Must be an effect of watching too much Hollywood.

"Oh yes! And to top of it, he is carried by a very pretty and _morena_ girl. She looks so gorgeous! She has a very long hair, a voluptuous and slim body and a very pretty face! I assume that is his mother." Perla is continuously giggling.

"Wow Perla! Why didn't you tell me earlier?!" Feliciano suddenly breaks in to the conversation as he creeps towards Perla (enough to irritate Ludwig more).

"Well you were too excited to get out of the airport and running too fast, that's why I didn't tell you."

"Aww... what a bummer..." Italy resumes back to his sightseeing.

"Oh.. and the father looks cute too.. He does have big and pointy ears... And his skin is so white and he has deep dimples when he smiles!" Perla excitingly describes (in which she assumes again) the father of the child. "Aaah! What a cute and adorable family!!" She is still giggling as she imagines herself being the maid of that family...

"Oh my! What am I thinking??" Perla snaps from her imagination. "Did I just imagine myself again as a maid??" She suddenly panics...

"Hey did you just said 'big and pointy ears'?" Ludwig curiously asks Perla.

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Uhh... Nothing... Forget it...." Ludwig sighs as he sits back.

"You're too weird sometimes..." Perla faces front again...

_You ARE the weird one_... Ludwig thought of her giggling antics. But suddenly...

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ah! We're here!" The Italian exclaims once they set foot to the vaporetto.

"At last... Now where is that clue... I'm already stressed out here..." Tom has become tired of everything happened this morning.

"Well sorry for that... But we're not finished yet!" The Italian has become enthusiastic as always. But, he is too enthusiastic to handle as Tom thought.

"What?! Can we just go home now? I'm just... tired..."

"No! Not until we find it!" The Italian still insists. "I can feel it!"

"Argghhh!! You said that many times already!" Tom had enough.

"And you complained about everything too many times! How did you become my teammate again?" The Italian is not having the best day... at least for him not yet... "Let's have a seat shall we?"

Tom deeply sighs... _This is my worst day ever..._ Tom thoughts as he facepalms.

They are now going towards their assigned seat. But suddenly... A voice over is now speaking first in Italian and next in English:

_ATTENTION TO ALL PASSENGERS: THIS TRIP WILL BE DELAYED BY AN HOUR DUE TO SOME ENGINE FAILURE FROM THIS VAPORETTI. WE TRULY APOLOGIZE FOR THIS INCONVENIENCE._

_"_ ARGH!!! This is truly my worst day ever!! This is all your fault, you useless old man!!" Tom is now frustrated and angry. They should be moving right now but the announcement make their situation worse than it is.

"I'm sorry Tom... I truly am... No matter we will just reunite with Gio and with your love..."

"SHUT UP!! NOT EVEN THAT CAN CONSOLE ME RIGHT NOW!! LET US GET OUT OF HERE AND RETURN TO OUR CAR!! YOU STUPID OLD MAN!!"

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_ATTENTION TO ALL PASSENGERS: THERE IS SOME ENGINE FAILURE FROM ONE OF OUR VAPORETTI. BUT SINCE WE ARE AHEAD OF THE NEXT VAPORRETI, OUR JOURNEY WILL BE CONTINUED. LET US HAVE A SAFE TRIP AND ENJOY VENEZIA. GRAZIE MILLE!_

The message from the voice over comes suddenly 3 minutes after takeoff. The vaporetti after them is currently having an engine failure thus this will be delayed by an hour.

Ludwig releases his sigh of relief. His first time to feel relaxed this very morning.

"Wow! We're lucky we are not that bus!" Perla exclaims.

"Oh yeah! We truly are babe!" Alfred agrees.

"YAY!! _Multo Buona!_ We are now moving! _Benvenuti nella_ _mia città_ _,_ _Venezia!_ " Feliciano declares and gives warm hugs to his teammates.

The vaporetti is now going towards the Grand Canal. This is the start of Team 1's mission!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!!
> 
> Another new chapter for this year! They are now in Venice and It has been a wild chase between the journalists and the personifications. And one famous person (along with his family) is here and having a vacation. Who is this certain famous person? Let me know your guesses in your comments since the clues are in this chapter. Will Perla see this adorable family once again?
> 
> This will be one heck of a ride so kindly let me know your thoughts in the comments below! Any suggestion will be welcomed as always! :)
> 
> Translations:  
> 1\. Benvenuto (Italian) - Welcome!  
> 2\. Ciao Venezia (Italian) - Hello Venice!  
> 3\. Idiota (Italian) - Idiot  
> 4\. Questo è il mio ragazzo (Italian) - That's my boy!  
> 5\. Andiamo (Italian) - Let us go!  
> 6\. Dummkopf (German) - Idiot  
> 7\. Un asino (Italian) - an ass  
> 8\. Affrettatevi (Italian) - Hurry!  
> 9\. Tahimik (Filipino) - Quiet!  
> 10\. Grazie Mille (Italian) - Thank you very much!  
> 11\. Multo Buona (Italian) - Very good!  
> 12\. Benvenuti nella mia città, Venezia (Italian) - Welcome to my city, Venice!
> 
> Some notes:  
> 1\. Vaporetto - a water bus used as a mode of transportation around Venice since the city is surrounded by water. For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporetto  
> 2\. There is an ongoing independence movement in Veneto Region (in which Venice is located) to revive the old Venetian Republic in which it has been existent from 697 to 1797. They also held a referendum last March 2014 although this is done thru an online plebiscite and unofficial. For more details: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice_R… and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice_r…
> 
> I hope you will stick around for more! Like always, kindly put your feedback, suggestions and any clarifications in the comments if you have any. Enjoy! :)


	10. Fradeƚansa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 1 is on Venice...

Arancio Vaporetti Line, Venice, Italy

_If only this is a vacation…_

The thoughts of someone who wishes that this is not a mission… The place itself does not suit to be a battlefield ( _well the place should_ ** _never_** _consider this as a battlefield. This beautiful place should never be spoiled_ ).

“Hey Babe! What are you moping about?”

“Nothing… It’s just that…”

“C’mon! Cheer up! It’s our first mission! Aren’t you at least excited? We have to be heroes! HAHAHAHA!!” Alfred stands up and raises his arms to cheer Perla up.

Suddenly all people in the bus stared heavily to Alfred. He doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, he does not mind at all. Talk about loving all the attention…

“Stand up Babe! We gotta cheer ourselves up!” Alfred tries to pull her up by grabbing her arms.

“Hey Alfred! Stop it! I know! I get it now!” Perla is very embarrassed. Her face is reddening. “Just sit for a second.”

“Alright.” Alfred sits back and he surprisingly complies. “What are you thinking then? Aren’t you excited for this?” He is somewhat concerned to her and his tone is a bit serious.

“Of course I am excited!” Perla exclaims as she faces him. “It’s just that… I just wished that this is vacation.” She frowns and bows her head out of disappointment.

“Sorry for barging in and sorry to disappoint you more but let me remind you again that we are in a mission.” Ludwig turns to Perla and as always is in a mood for a lecture.

“I know that! You don’t have to tell me!” Perla whined to Ludwig. “Oh bother…” She just sighs and leans back to her sit. “This place shouldn’t be a battlefield.”

“Well babe, for starters, we do not know what exactly is our mission is so we’re not even sure if fighting is necessary here.” A serious Alfred responded. “And as you said earlier, we’re here to investigate about.... something.” He winks on her.

“O-of course! Why did I forget about that? Hehe…” She apologetically smiles to him and blushes. “Thanks Alfred…”

“No worries Babe!” He shows his heroic thumbs up gesture to her again. “You can count on me!”

“Hey Perla! Let’s go to the dock! You have to see Venice in its finest!  _Dai!_ ” Feliciano grabs her hand to get her up from her seat.

“H-hey Feli! W-wait up!” She let her friend grab her hands and both of them run towards the door to the dock.

“The hero will come after you! HAHAHAHAHA!!” Alfred goes after them.

 _What a bunch of dummkofps…_ Ludwig just sighed and goes after the three.

When they got out to the dock…

“Wooowww….” Perla did come before a very few times to Venice but the place never ceases to amaze her, even for a personification. Her smile never ceases too. “Look at that…”

What they see is breathtaking. They are in the Laguna Veneto (Veneto Lake) in which they see the overview of the city. The waters are pristine, the gondolas are like dancing in the water as it goes, the architecture is well preserved over the course of its existence. No wonder why Perla is upset, due to its beauty will only tarnished if this has become a battlefield.

“Do you see that Perla? This is my city! Looks  _magnifico_ , no?” Feli is succeeding in cheering Perla up.

“It truly is… It never lost its beauty…” 

“ _Ja,_  it is still fascinating no doubt. And it is also very peaceful.” Ludwig comments.

“And the ambiance of this place… it’s make me relax and forget it all…” Perla sighs heavily 

“It makes me wonder, what exactly are we doing here?” Alfred looks to everyone. He’s thinking about their mission.

The three looked at him and are a bit confused to his question.

“Especially you Italy, aren’t you wondering and worrying about what is really happening here?”  Alfred is seriously looking to Feliciano. 

Feliciano is a bit distraught to Alfred’s question. Perla and Ludwig only looked to him with worry.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was silence… 

and it is an eerie one…

This is the kind of atmosphere that Tom and the Italian have while they are in the car with Tom driving this time. Tom is still evidently furious to all the  _non-sense_  he experienced earlier.

The Italian does not speak either. And if he does, he surely will not make Tom calm even if he uses Rinna as his bait. It will only make things more complicated to them. 

The route they are taking right now is a lot farther than they are supposed to take, since they did not take the vaporetto. They took SS14 from Marco Polo Airport and the road is indeed long. It pisses Tom more as he clinches his teeth out of annoyance while driving the car.

The Italian heavily sighs as he is not in a situation to bargain. After all, he is in fault here.

Suddenly, somebody is calling to Tom’s mobile phone. It is Gio.

“What…” Tom is somehow disinterested to the call. If it is Rinna though, it will be different.

_Where are you? We’ve stopped in Parco San Giuliano._

“Don’t ask me! Because some IDIOT here doesn’t know where he is going! Do you think I’m okay with his stupid  _visions?_!!”

_Why? What happened?_

“We were supposed to go with you. And then he said we will go to the airport instead because he feels that his  _clue_  would be there. And when we arrived we didn’t find anything so because he just feels it, we have gone to the water bus terminal to take the  _vaporetto_. And guess what happened?  That bus malfunctioned! HE and his stupid fucking  _visions_  are totally not on point! And I have enough of that!! And who in the earth who have visions anyway?” Tom is truly mad as he shouts the heck out of him.

“And I was sorry! I said that a hundred times already today! And you are already as angry as someone who has dysmenorrhea!” The old man retaliates as he also can’t take words from Tom.

“Shut the hell up you stupid old man!” Tom can’t take this any longer.

 _CALM THE HELL DOWN YOU IDIOT! YOU’RE LIKE A WHINING CHILD HERE!_ Gio is on loud speaker in which Tom accidentally pressed earlier. Tom doesn’t have an answer on that since he is admittedly like a whining child.

_Do you realize that without that stupid old man, we wouldn’t be here? How could you say all those things? He may be stupid all the time but do you think his works are for naught? He already discovered their existence. If not for him, we wouldn’t have any decent assignments to begin with! Do you want to investigate more stupid cases like a family’s ill-gotten wealth, or a mafia’s life or even a judge’s marital problems? This is a big deal, idiot! So get yourself together and work!_

The Italian was smiling stupidly and he is teary eyed. He is indeed proud of Gio. Tom meanwhile can’t fathom the fact that he is being scolded  _again_  by someone who he considers as a rival not only on their professional life but also in Rinna’s heart. They were together for 7 years. So there’s no denying that their bond no matter what the circumstances are strong enough to be considered to be a family. He realized that the Italian really means no harm…

“Alright alright… I’m sorry…” No matter how annoyed Tom is to the situation he still understands that this is one thing that they needed to do.

“Sorry for that also you stupid old man…”

“No worries. We are  _famiglia_  here! Just don’t be like that again alright?” The Italian smiles to Tom.

“Yeah…” Tom just sighs and he accepted this situation.

 _Alright, we will meet here in Parco San Giuliano. See you later._  Gio cuts off the line and the two are now going towards the park that Gio specified.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Feli, are you sure you don’t know what’s happening here?” Perla is concerned to her Italian friend. 

“ _Si,_ I don’t know anything  _amica mia.._.” Feliciano sadly answers as he looks below in the sea.

“Don’t be worried. We will find out soon enough.” Ludwig comforts Feliciano despite his always serious face as he looks to him. Perla notices his  _soft_ side.

“Ludwig’s right! That’s we’re here for,  _‘di ba_?” Perla agrees to Ludwig and cheers Feliciano. “We will be like Sherlock!” Perla clinches her fists with pride.

Ludwig raises his left eyebrow while Alfred widens his smile. Feli seems back to  _normal_  quickly. He suddenly fired up.

“Alright alright! Enough chit chat! Let’s go back to our seats...” Ludwig doesn’t want to be part of the  _cheese fest_.

“And he’s back...” Despite his sigh, Alfred goes back to his seat...

“C’mon Feli... It will be alright. Trust me!” Perla reassures Italy the North. 

“Yay! Can I just sleep during the mission?”

“No Feli... If you want to really find out what’s going on here, you have to take part of this mission.” Perla reprimands Feli on his  _suggestion_.

“Awww... I thought you guys will do all the work...” 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey... Are both of you alright now?” Gio certainly has concerns with their  _teamwork_.

“As if I have a choice...” Tom blabbers just after they disembark from their car.

“We are good to go!” As if nothing happened between him and Tom, The Italian is still as ecstatic as ever. “Now what’s the catch?”

With a little sigh, Gio goes back to business.

“Well... Unlike you who have too much drama on getting that  _clue_ , we have this.” Gio hands a brown envelope to the Italian

“What is this?” He gets a document from the envelope and reads it. 

“Those are from our contacts here. It seems that the mice are already in the move.”

“While the cats are away I see...” The Italian seems serious by the minute he reads the document. The document contains the communication between the members of the  _Lega Venetia_. 

“Well technically, most of them are cats that also acts as mice. They don’t wanna mess up  _yet_  with the Central Government.” Gio explains.

“Ah!  _Bravissimo_  Gio as always!” The Italian taps Gio’s shoulder and give him a big smile. He is surely change his mood quickly.

“So what would be our next move then?” Rinna asks.

“Well, we must see it for ourselves...” Orsino suggests.

“OK gang! Let’s go to Venice then!” The old one is as cheery as before. His motivation matches up with his huge energy!

As they walk towards their respective cars...

“Hey Gio...” Tom calls out Gio softly while trailing behind all of them.

“What is it?”Gio turns to Tom

“This Orsino guy, can we really trust him? He seems so.... Suspicious...” Tom whispers to Gio as he put his arms around Gio’s shoulder.

“Not really...” Gio softly answers as Orsino is around 4 steps away from them.

“Then why are we still continue to deal with him?” Tom asks.

“Well, you are the one who brought him to us at the first place...” 

“I know... I know...” Tom doesn’t want any arguments at this point... He had enough earlier...

“It’s my turn to ask you, why exactly did you brought him?” Gio turns the table to ask Tom.

“Well... Of course to help us do our  _thing_ , you know...” Tom reasons out.

“That is exactly my reason why we still work with him...” Gio smirks and let’s go of Tom’s arm as he walks ahead of Tom.

But for Tom, this may not be enough reason.... There’s something more than to “help us do our  _thing_ ”...

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Arancio line is definetly a treat! The views of the city as seen from the Vaporetti are truly magnificent! From its well-preserved buildings that were built centuries ago to its unique scenery, Team 1, so far, truly enjoys the city much to Feliciano’s delight.

As the vaporetti enters the Grand Canal, Feliciano becomes a tour guide of the team (for obvious reasons) where he introduces the city’s landmarks from its historic buildings, bridges and also the people to his teammates. The other tourists on board eavesdrop to Feliciano’s tour so he decided to grab a mic and guide all the tourists on board in which initially Ludwig is annoyed at.

Feliciano is truly a perfect host for as he entertains his guests with history and fun facts. Some of them are not well known. He truly enjoys this moment. Of course, the guests are all delighted.

“Wow! Feliciano is very good at this!” Perla is also delighted by Feliciano’s actions.

“Well, he is very well known for that. He isn’t called one of the most tourist-friendly nations in the world for nothing.” Ludwig comments.

“No wonder. People are paying attention to him. He has some use than I thought.” Alfred seriously notes. He thought he may use Feliciano’s ability in the future missions.

“ _Ja_. I could agree on that.” Ludwig approves. Perla is delighted to see her teammates agree for once.

“If you walk inside that street, you will see Marco Polo’s home.” The Personification of Northern Italy points to their left side as he enthusiastically tells to the tourists. “That guy is really cool! He met so many people during his travels especially that Kublai Khan!”

“Really? Is Marco Polo from here?” Perla wonders as she have heard the name but she is not really familiar with it.

“Yes, he is really is from here. He is a very wealthy and powerful merchant indeed. He has gone to many places in the Far East which includes China and India. He also met many powerful people during his travels and he established himself to be one of the most prolific people in history by writing his accounts for his travels.” Ludwig explained further.

“Italy must be very really prosperous during those times.” Perla comments.

“No, Italy did not yet exist at Polo’s time. They were not united yet as far as I remember from what I read about Italy’s history.” Ludwig corrects Perla.

“Eh? Really?”

“Yes, Before the Italian country as we know it becomes existent, this land were divided into multiple kingdoms. One of those countries was the Most Serene Republic of Venice in which this city has been its capital. It was a maritime country situated in the present northeastern Italy and its territories in Croatia, Greece and some parts of the Balkans. It was a major power that lasted for centuries because of its economy and trade.” Ludwig thoroughly explains.

“Wow, you must have really known him for a very long time, huh?” Alfred notes.

“Well, not really, we’ve only first met during the 1st World War.” Ludwig clarifies.

“Whoa!! Really Dude?!” Alfred shockingly noticed. “How come?”

“Well....” Ludwig goes on a deep thought of what is his earliest memory of Feli. “Not sure why, but that was the first time that I have met him... During that time...”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

During the Beginning of the World War I

_The Kingdom of Italy was a member of the Triple Alliance with me, Austria and Hungary. But our bosses did not inform Italy at that time. Thus, they ordered me to find Italy and capture him to convince his boss to join._

_By the time that I arrived in Italy..._

“I’m supposed to find this ‘descendant of Rome’ but no luck so far...” Ludwig wanders through the forests somewhere in Italy. 

“But... It is weird...” He holds a wodden stick that he find earlier. “I crossed the border with no problems, the only security they have is this stick and I managed to eat my wursts here with no one noticing...”

“I didn’t expect for this to be easy... But I’m not letting my guard down... He’s Rome’s descendant after all... He must have some sort of a plan....” He still aimlessly wanders until...

“Huh? What’s this?” he found a crate with some Italian words written on it. ‘C _assa Inquietante Di Pomodori’_

“What does this mean?” He grabbed a Italian to German thesaurus from his bag. “Hmmm...  _Cassa_ means  _Kiste_ ,  _Inquientante_ means  _Bedrohlich_ ,  _Pomodori_  means  _Tomaten_... This situation is getting weirder and weirder... Someone must have left this...” He is going to touch the crate when suddenly...

“Ah!” There is someone in the crate.

“What?!” Ludwig was alarmed thus he quickly gets his rifle and targets the crate. “W-Who’s there?!”

“Hello to you! I am the box of tomatoes fairy! I come in peace! Let us be friends and play with each other!” The crate somewhat speaks...

“I think someone’s inside.” Ludwig carefully observes the crate.

“No! You’re wrong! There’s no one inside!!” The crate seems to be alarmed.

“Really? Stop this nonsense and get out of that box or I’ll shoot you there!” Ludwig threatens the person inside the box. Who would believe that there is no one inside?

“NO!! DON’T SHOOT ME PLEASE!! I BEG OF YOU!”  _The box of tomatoes fairy_  is panicking.

“Alright get out of the box!”

“I said no one’s inside!” The  _fairy_  is determined.

“Alright if you do not want to get out of that box then I’ll force myself to reveal your true self!” Ludwig goes near to the box and opens it.

“DO NOT OPEN THE BOX!! PLEASE I BEG OF YOU!!”

“Nnnnnnghhh!!!  _Verdammt_!!  This is heavy!!” Ludwig is struggling from opening the box on his bare hands. It must have securely closed.

“Why do you ignore my warnings?! What’s the point of seeing a box of tomatoes’ innards?” The  _fairy_ is getting annoyed.

“NNNGGGHHH!! Somethings is caught in here!” Ludwig still do not heed to the _fairy’s_ warnings. Until he opens the box.

“Waaaahhhh!! I’m so sorry!! You were right! I am not a box of tomatoes fairies at all! It was all lies! Lies!!! LIES!!!! Please don’t shoot me!! I’m too young to die, and what if I don’t die but am just mortally wounded and forced to lie there in misery in a pool of my own blood?! Please I’ll do anything! Well, I mean within reason… I DON’T WANT TO DIEEEEEEE!!!!!!” Someone goes out of the box and it is actually a guy who has brownish hair with an ahoge pointing on his right. He wears his military uniform although he doesn’t look like someone who really fights... “I mean seriously, I’m a virgin! You don’t really want to shoot the virgin, are you?! We’re pathetic enough as it is!! I apologize for the lying, and the boxing, and really I’m a good Italy! I swear! You’re Germany, right?!”

“H-how do you know my country name?” Ludwig cautiously wonders as he never have met the guy before.

“W-well... It’s just a hunch...” The  _fairy_ guy tells Ludwig. He is a  _little_  scared.

 _Geez…_ _I_ _s this the guy I’m supposed to be_ _capturing?_ _I heard_ _, he_ _is the descendant of the great Rome, but…_ _Ugh… there’s no way this whining little brat could be the same_ _person_ _… I wonder who he really is…_ Ludwig flinches his eyebrows while thinking as he grabs the  _fairy_  guy out of the box while the  _fairy_  guy whines about his safety 

 _Wait! If he is really a personification, then I might feel some energy that resembles mine._ Germany is evidently doubtful to the  _fairy guy’s_ claim. Thus he closes his eyes and concentrates while still grabbing the  _fairy guy_. He is releasing a small energy that helps him detect any signs of energy that is similar to him. The energy of their own existence. A Personification.

_W-what the? H-he... can’t be... This warm energy... It’s seems familiar..._

“Let me ask you a question. You wouldn’t by any chance be related to the great Rome, would you?” Germany lets go of the  _fairy guy._

“Wait, you’re telling me you know Grandpa Rome? What a  _fantastico_  turn of events! Especially for this poor pizza and pasta lover! You had me completely fooled! I thought you were really mean and scary! So we can be friends, ok?” The guy is truly desperate to save his life to his German captor.

“Shut up you whiny dummkopf!” Ludwig aims his gun to the  _fairy guy._  “Hands in the air and you are now captured!!”

“WHHAAATTT!!! NOOOOO!!!!!!!!”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Wow... What a bad impression you gave to him...” Perla reacts after Ludwig tells his story. He just sighs deeply on that thought.

“ _Ja._  But it was an order that I need to follow. And besides, it was a war that is why it was necessary.” Ludwig replies with a bit of a sigh.

“Yeah... But you said you felt a warm energy from him... Why did you said so?” Perla asks.

Ludwig pauses for a moment... 

“I... Don’t really know... But somehow... I... Felt familiar with it... It made me happy...”

“Hmmm... And you still captured him...” Perla frowns as she saw the irony of Ludwig’s statement.

“I said it was an order from my boss. I cannot compromise my duty as a soldier for that  _tiny_  reason.” 

“Then what happened next?” 

“Well after a few days, his boss find out about his captivity. He was quite mad about what happened. Thus, he refused to join us in war and instead he backed up the Entente Powers with the help of France and Great Britain.”

“What happened to Feliciano? How was he saved?” 

“He was under the custody of Austria and Hungary at that time. Because of his boss’ secret agreement with the French Army, he was saved.”

“Alright... So why did he turned his back on you guys?” It is Alfred’s turn to ask.

“Hmmm... I think I know why...” Perla stares to Ludwig as if she is teasing him...

“W-what?? W-Why are you looking me like that?!” Ludwig flusters. He just doesn’t get her...

“Well... Nothing!” Perla teasingly replies.

Ludwig becomes more irritated by Perla’s actions.  _This woman is getting weirder and weirder._

“Political reasons... Is that it?” Alfred tone becomes serious... Too serious... Both Perla and Ludwig noticed this seriousness.

“Well no... Not really... It’s a matter of who can deliver what the other wants faster... Their boss was kinda greedy since he wanted more territorial gains especially to Trieste, Istria, Zara and Dalmatia, in which all were territories of Austria at that time.” Ludwig explains.

“So meaning to gain more power! Sounds political to me!” Alfred counters Ludwig’s defense.

“Now Now guys... That’s all in the past, right?” Perla, knowing where this conversation will go, pacifies the situation. “Let’s leave that discussion for sometime and let’s focus on the mission on hand, shall we?” She smiles with a bit of worry to both of them and the two responded by being silent. 

“By the way, what station are we going to drop off?” Alfred suddenly asks.

“We will drop off to San Marco Ferry Terminal and afterwards, we will check-in to the hotel nearby.” Ludwig replies.

Perla stretches her arms upward. “Finally, we can have a rest for a while-”

“Not so fast. We will have a conference call with Henri once we arrive there.” the German interrupts.

Both Perla and Alfred are shocked to that sudden announcement. “What?! Really? Oh... Bother... I want some action already!!” Alfred complains.

“WHAT THE?!” Alfred suddenly exclaims.

The tourists are now panicking. Somethings going on outside. The Vaporetti has stopped due to a some sort of explosion happened in the Grand Canal and the strong currents from the impact are now coming towards them.

“Everyone! Please calm down!” Perla pleads the civilians. “Please hold on to your seats!”

“Germany!! Germany!! WHAT SHOULD I DO??!!” Feli isn’t helping to calm down the situation as he goes near to his teammates.

“CALM DOWN YOU  _DUMMKOPF_!!!” Ludwig scold Feli again as he holds Feli’s shoulder and shakes him. That isn’t helping either.

“Germany! Let’s go! We need to know what’s happening outside!” Alfred, due to the situation, becomes serious. “Philippines and Italy, I need you to protect the people here!”

 _“_ Right! Roger that!” Perla agrees. “ _Halika_ Feli, you have to calm down and let’s help these people. Alright?”

Feliciano nods as if he agrees. He is suddenly turned serious.

“C’mon Germany! Let’s beat that guy up!” Alfred looks up to the Ponte dell’Academia bridge and saw a mysterious guy there. “Let us make them learn that they cannot mess with Team 1!!”

“Right...” Germany agrees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY AN UPDATE FOR YOU GUYS!!!
> 
> The first chapter for the year 2016! They are still in the water bus when something happens... who are they? we will find out in the next chapter!
> 
> This will be one heck of a ride so kindly let me know your thoughts in the comments below! Any suggestion will be welcomed as always! 
> 
> Translations:  
> 1\. Fradeƚansa (Venetian) - Brotherhood  
> 2\. Dai (Italian) - Hurry!  
> 3\. Magnifico (Italian) - Magnificent  
> 4\. Famiglia (Italian) - Family  
> 5\. Amica Mia (Italian) - my friend (Feminine)  
> 6\. Dummkopf (German) - Idiot  
> 7\. Di ba? (Filipino) - Right?/Isn't it?  
> 8\. Cassa Inquietante Di Pomodori (Italian) - Dangerous Box of Tomatoes  
> 9\. Kiste (German) - Box/Crate  
> 10\. Bedrohlich (German) - Dangerous  
> 11\. Tomaten (German) - Tomatoes  
> 12\. Verdammt (German) - Dammit!  
> 13\. Fantastico (Italian) - Fantastic  
> 14\. Halika (Filipino) - Come on!
> 
> Some notes:  
> 1\. Vaporetto - a water bus used as a mode of transportation around Venice since the city is surrounded by water. For more information: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporett…  
> 2\. There is an ongoing independence movement in Veneto Region (in which Venice is located) to revive the old Venetian Republic in which it has been existent from 697 to 1797. They also held a referendum last March 2014 although this is done thru an online plebiscite and unofficial. For more details: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice_R… and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice_r…  
> 3\. Liga Veneto Lega Nord is a regionalist political party based in Veneto, Italy. The said party, which combines Venetian nationalism and support for fiscal federalism, was the first party of its kind in Northern Italy, predating Umberto Bossi's Lega Lombarda by four years, and was a founding member of Lega Nord in 1991. Since then, Liga Veneta has been a "national" section of the federal party, thus retaining legal status and some autonomy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…  
> 4\. Italy participated in World War I, not as an ally of the Triple Alliance (Germany and Austria-Hungary), but as an ally of Allied Powers (mainly France and England). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
> 
> I hope you will stick around for more! Like always, kindly put your feedback, suggestions and any clarifications in the comments if you have any. Enjoy!


	11. El Cazhàr

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 1 is facing a fierce advesary.

Grand Canal, Venice, Italy (near Ponte dell’Academia bridge)

“Hey you!” Alfred shouts to the mysterious man with a black cloak who stands in the edge of the bridge. “Was it you who did this?”

The man does not respond. He readies himself with his attacking stance.

“Oh. So that’s your answer, huh?” Alfred realizes as he and Ludwig also made their stance. “You’ll later regret i-”

“Wait!!”

A woman jumps in front of them which came from behind. She holds 2 yantok sticks which is very familiar to Alfred.

“Perla! What are you doing here?” Alfred is surprised as she is standing up from her jumping. Ludwig just stared her back. “Didn’t I told you to protect the passengers?!”

“Alfred! Please stand back!”

“What?! Babe! Why am I going to turn back?! I am the leader here!” Alfred furiously answers.

“Consider this. With your immense power, you can easily wipe out this city. Don’t you remember what happened when we were kidnapped?” Perla reminds Alfred of what happened previously.

He remembers. He truly remembers especially that moment where he couldn’t save Perla. He is totally embarrassed. “Well, so what? I did use my powers in a __minimum__!”

“Yeah? With your __minimum__  strength, you destroyed that building in just one punch!” Perla points out how __minimum__ Alfred’s power is. “You are one of the most powerful countries in the whole world! You cannot just punch recklessly and destroy everything!”

“Babe.... Did you just insulted me?!” Alfred (or rather his American pride) seems hurt to her point.

“No, I didn’t! I just don’t want this place to be destroyed in just a single fight. That is why I am pointing out to you to not to use your powers so carelessly.” Perla insists. She still thinks the possibility that the city will become a battlefield.

“She has a point, America.” Ludwig calmly agrees to Perla’s point. “We cannot use our powers outside the limits of what is allowed to us. Our rule is to only use Level 1 limit during our missions but in your case your Level 1 is equivalent to a smaller nation’s Level 3 limit.”

Alfred frowned but realized that both of them has a point.

“Alright. So are you saying that both of you will fight this fella?” Alfred suspects.

“No, I’ll do it alone.” Perla declares.

“WHAATTT?!! NO WAY PERLA!! I CAN’T ALLOW YOU TO DO THAT!” Alfred reacts furiously. Ludwig is surprised to her boldness.

“He is right Perla. We don’t know how powerful this guy is! Let me handle it!” Ludwig is trying to convince Perla and he will do the work.

“I heard from Mei that your fight with Alfred almost destroyed our base’s forests.”

Ludwig is quite surprised and frowned.

“So please have trust in me. I am your teammate remember? I am not a pushover nation as others said against me!” Perla is very determined to fight the mysterious guy. The guy is still standing as he watches them arguing.

Alfred sighed heavily. “Alright Babe... As you wish! Go for it!” He is back in his cheery self.

“Don’t say that I did not warn you.” Ludwig slightly not yet convinced but follows her anyway.

“ _ _Salamat__!” Perla gives her thanks before she faces the enemy.

__Now is my chance to prove my worth for my team! I just hope that I won’t disappoint them._ _

“ _ _Ikaw__! Who are you and what is your purpose?!” Perla interrogates the cloaked guy. The guy is still quiet and now back to his attacking stance.

“Well Babe, it’s useless to talk to him, you know?” Alfred talks to her cheekily.

“So, I guess you are not ready to talk, __no__? Very well.” Perla readies her stance with her arnis sticks and prepares to fight the enemy.

She took the initiative to attack by jumping towards the guy.

“ _ _Republika ng Pilipinas!!”__

The similar surge of energy has flowed around Perla making her energy become stronger.

The mysterious guy magically draws the water from the canal and shoots towards Perla. She suddenly disappears.

“You think you already got me?!” Perla appears to the left side of the bridge. She strikes the mysterious guy with her sticks by hitting him twice to the both sides of his shoulder and both sides of his knees. Then she kicks his stomach thus he was knocked down.

“Wha- what was that?” Ludwig wanders.

“It’s called __Siniwali__.” Alfred responds calmly. “It is a striking technique that requires the use of double sticks and it requires you to have a great speed and be highly coordinate with your movements for you to perfect this technique. Her increased speed due to her activation of her Level 1 is very compatible with that technique she just used.”

“ _ _Siniwali__ , huh?” Ludwig wants to observe and learn from Perla’s technique.

__So her power lies on speed huh? and that’s her specialty? Interesting…_ _

“So? Are you ready to talk now?” Perla is confident that her enemy is down, but…

“What the? How?” She utters to herself as she sees the mysterious guys recovers and getting up from his fall. Alfred and Ludwig were also shocked to see him recover from that fast strike.

“So you are a tough nut to crack, no?” She makes her stance again but…

The mysterious guy raises his right hand across towards Perla and a sudden light from his hand flashes.

“ _ _Anong__??” Perla tries to shield herself from the light with her sticks but she was hit. “Ughh!!”

“PERLA!!” Alfred exclaims as he wants to save her but Ludwig grips his shoulder. “WHAT?! DIDN’T YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?!!”

“Calm down!! Didn’t she told us not to assist her?!” Ludwig reminds Alfred of Perla’s request.

“But-” He suddenly stops complaining as he sees Perla standing up and recovers.

“We have to trust her on this.” Ludwig make clear of his intentions to trust Perla for this fight.

As much as he hated to admit, Ludwig is right. Alfred can’t help but to trust Perla.

“ _ _May mahika ka palang baon__?! __Pucha ka__!!” She exclaims while standing up. She has a slight burn on her right arm.

Perla pulls out some sort of a coin from her sleeve in her pants. It has an embossed cross in the whole coin and also some symbols that come with it. She seems to concentrating by holding the coin and patting it in her head. She also utters some words in her mouth.

“Wait! That’s-” Alfred seems to know what it is.

“Hm? What’s that?” Ludwig seems to notice.

“It’s called the __Anting-anting.”__

 _ _“Antung…. Achtung?”__ Ludwig, of course, mispronounces it.

“No! It’s __Anting-anting__.” Alfred pronounces it in a very __American__ way. “It’s a special coin that protects its bearer from any harm. Bullets, rockets, stones, and even magic.”

“It looks very __ancient__ , I would say.” Ludwig comments.

“Yeah. Their ancestors used it a long time before the Spanish conquest. They incorporated some Christian myths to it during the Spanish rule.” Alfred explains calmly.

 _ _If I knew she had that coin with her, I won’t hesitate to let her handle this fight. There’s no way Perla won’t win this! Go for it, babe!__ Alfred smiles and he is truly confident that Perla is gunning for a win.

 _ _I am quite surprised that he bothered to know her past. Well, he is her former colonizer anyway so I shouldn’t be surprise.__ Ludwig observes his rival.

“Interesting… I guess a lot of Asian countries has similar customs… Japan has that too…”

“ _ _Tignan na lang natin ‘yang tapang mo ngayon!__ ” Perla is quicky running towards to her enemy. So fast that she is now in blur.

The mysterious guy stretches his right arms across Perla’s direction and again, a light shoots to her.

This time, it didn’t work. A protective barrier coming from the coin’s power protected Perla from the light.

Now, Perla has the chance to finish this off.

“Ahhhhh!!”

She hits her enemy by making a spinning strike using her Arnis sticks. It is so fast that the enemy could not recover from it.

Now the mysterious guy is on the air and falling down. He seems unconscious.

“Redondo!” She defeats her enemy.

“Wow! Amazing!! Way to go, babe!! Yay!!!” Alfred jumps in joy in Perla’s victory.

“Hey!! Stop that!! We’re in a boat, you __dummkopf__!!! There are passengers inside!!” Ludwig is worried on the passengers inside since it is shaking due to Alfred’s jumping.

“So, let’s see who is this person behind this hood.” Perla is about to uncover the identity of the mysterious guy when...

A sudden flash of light is shooting towards Perla. She is able to deflect it with her sticks as the __Anting-anting’s__  power is still active in her.

“Who’s there?!!” Perla tries to find the another enemy.

Suddenly, another guy in a cloak jumps in and get’s the mysterious guy and jumps out across Perla.

“Who are you?!!” Perla sees the mysterious guy no. 2 carrying the unconscious mysterious guy no. 1 in his shoulder and faces her.

“Do not interfere with us! Or you will regret it later!” He exclaims to Perla and now escapes with the mysterious guy no. 1.

“HEY! WAI-”

“PERLA!! YOU OKAY?!!” Alfred and Ludwig jumps in to Perla’s position.

“Yeah, I am but-”

“Let us bring the passengers to safety first and report the incident to Henri. __Ja?__ ” Ludwig calmly suggests.

“Yeah, I agree with that. Hey! Are you sure you will be going to be alright with your wound?” Alfred agrees.

“Yes, of course! I will be alright.” Perla agrees.

“WOHOOOO!!! Way to go!!!”

“Thank you for saving us!!”

“Grazie!!”

“You are our heroes!!”

“You guys are so cool!!”

All of the sudden, the passengers are celebrating their victory and cheering Team 1. “Hey Guys! They are congratulating us! They are indeed happy! Yay!!” Feliciano goes up to the deck and he definitely lives up the passengers. The other 3 are just staring at each other but eventually they felt the happiness of giving help to others as they smiled to each other with gladness.

“Thank you! Thank you! I’ll get your autographs later! HAHAHAHA!!!” Alfred cheers back to the passengers as he (again) take the whole credit.

“Hey! This is supposed to be a miss-” Ludwig once again reminds the American but…

“Don’t be like that. The people are happy. That’s what matters, right?” Perla snaps Ludwig’s strict mode and pats his shoulder. “In that case…” Perla gets her phone and…

“Let’s take a selfie first!” She snaps pictures of herself and Alfred while posing along with the passengers and Feliciano. Germany could not believe what just he saw as he groans and facepalms…

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Gio. For God’s sake! Will you listen!” Tom again complains about something.

“What is it?! Mind your own business! You are supposedly looking for the scoops around the town!” Gio is kinda busy on his role.

“But! If that Orsino guy did something to Ri- I mean, to everyone-”

“I told you, You’re the one who brought that guy with us, don’t you remember?”

“Yeah… but still…”

“So shut up and do your freaking job!”

“Don’t say that I did not warn ya!”

“Well, It will be __your__  fault if that happens!”

They are now walking in the streets of Santa Croce where they are tasked to find more clues regarding the Venetian League (or also known as __“Łiga Vèneta”__ , a branch of __Lega Nord Party__ ). Gio and Tom are paired up but it seems that they are not really looking forward in this pair-up. While the Italian, Rinna and Orsino are in the northeastern portion called Cannaregio.

“What can this __Łiga Vèneta__ planning for? Are they really gearing towards independence?” Tom is increasingly curious to the situation.

“Italian politics are known to have full of scandals and mischiefs. Remember Burlesconi?” Gio points out an example.

“Oh that former Prime Minister of Italy who can’t even pay his taxes even if he is a filthy rich guy? Yeah sure I get it. That cheater old geezer!” Tom remembers the time that he have to cover that __stupid__  news. “But what exactly are they gonna do once they got their independence?”

“That’s our job to find out.” Gio reminds Tom their role.

They continue their walk, and then…

“Hey! Gio!”

“What now?!” Gio is clearly annoyed.

“Isn’t that…”

Tom points his finger to the right side of the road and they seen somewhat familiar guy along with his __somehow__  partner and their child. They are also being accompanied by their bodyguards. Some people are following them as they want to take their picture and sign something for them. They must be fans.

“Yeah… I definitely know that guy… Who doesn’t?” Gio noticed them too.

“Yeah and what’s a famous soccer player doing here?” Tom curiously asks.

“Uhhh… Strolling with his family? _ _”__ Gio sarcastically stating the obvious.

“Hey I know that Captain Obvious!!” Tom doesn’t appreciate the sarcasm.

“Why? You want me to tell you that he’s going to another club or something?”

“No you idiot! I’m just asking! God! You don’t have to be so…” Tom is really a hot head. He sometimes cannot deal with Gio’s sarcasm or the Italian’s idiocy.

“Anyway- Huh?” Gio hears something.

“Hey! Didn’t you know? There’s a fight happened earlier in the Ponte dell’Academia bridge.” Some guy is talking to another guy in a restaurant nearby.

“What? What kind of fight?” Another guy holding his glass of wine.

“Well… Something huge… I heard that the waves in the Grand Canal got so strong but then it’s strange… since there are only waves during a storm. Obviously it isn’t raining today.”

“Excuse me. Sorry for barging in but what exactly happened in Ponte dell’Academia bridge?” Gio interrupts their conversation. Curiousity got better in him.

“I’m not exactly sure what happened __Signore__ , but from what I heard there were some powerful guys fought there…”

__Powerful guys… It can’t be?_ _

“Hey Tom! Let’s go to Ponte dell’Academia bridge!” Gio yells to Tom who is still looking to the famous soccer player.

 

“What???!! RIght now?! It’s too far from here!” Tom complains again.

“No buts! We have to hurry!” Gio insists. “Grazie Signore for the information!” He gives his thanks to the guys in the restaurants.

Gio and Tom are running towards Ponte dell’Academia bridge.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“That was fun!!” Alfred enjoyed every moment in the Vaporetti.

Team 1 has arrived to the San Marco (Vallaresso) Station and got off from the Vaporetti. Their companions are still cheering and thanking them for saving them.

“No problem! The hero will be always with you! HAHAHAHA!!” Alfred gives them a thumbs up.

“Grazie mille!! I hope you will enjoy the rest of your stay here in Venice!” Feliciano waves back to them.

“Please be safe guys!! Enjoy your trip!” Perla also waves goodbye to them.

The guys are now walking towards their designated hotel, Hotel Monaco & Grand Canal, which is nearby. The views become more magnificent as they as being greeted by the centuries old structure and Venetian hospitality. Perla couldn’t help but be at awe on whatever she is seeing.

“Hey guys! Can we go to the other side even just for a while?” Perla asks her teammates since she is too excited to be here. She refers to the Giardini Reali, a garden palace just the other side of the Riva degli Schiavoni. Can’t blame her. The place is magnificent.

“Yeah! That place is truly magnificent! Hey Germany! Can we go there?” Feliciano asks Ludwig fervently.

“I’m sorry but didn’t I told you many times before that this is a mission, not a leisure?” Ludwig, in his most German way possible, did not allow them. “Besides we will have to call Henri for the mission briefing.”

“If that’s the case, then we can go there after the mission, right?” Alfred wants to give them a ‘third solution’.

“I don’t think we are allowed to do that.” Ludwig disallow the third solution.

“And why is that?” Alfred asks Ludwig for the reason.

Ludwig is grabbing something from his backpack. And it is a light-blue-themed covered booklet with computer-printed cover which also includes UNPSF’s logo. That booklet is as thick as a notebook.

“This is our Manual of Mission Operations.” He shows to the rest of the team. “And it is stated in the Rule No. 3 of the manual that our identities as a nation should not be disclosed at any cost during a mission. In that reason, we should just refer ourselves to our human names and not our nation names. __Ja__? By the way, don’t you have copies of the Manual?”

“Manual? Do heroes need manuals?” Alfred stupidly asks the team. He is getting on Ludwig’s nerves.

“Huh? Alfred! You should have a copy of that! You are our Team Leader! You should set an example. Geez…” Perla scold Alfred for that.

“So I assume you have a copy of the manual?” Ludwig asks Perla.

“Yes, I do! I’ll just get it!” Perla gets her bag and she searches for her manual and then… “What the?”

“Babe, What’s going on?” Alfred is concerned to Perla.

“I…It’s just… It’s just here a while ago... Where did I misplaced it? Don’t do this to me! __Nakakahiya!”__ Perla murmurs while searching the manual in her backpack and her luggage.

“Is there any problem?” Ludwig now asks Perla.

“Ummmm… I… I think I lost it…” Perla stares blankly to the direction where Ludwig and Alfred is. “I-I can’t find it.”

“WASSS??!!” Ludwig exclaimed in shock. “How did you lost it??”

“I think… I lost it during my fight in Ponte dell’Academia?” Perla is unsure as she puts her finger on her right cheek. “Hmmm… not sure… but.. probably…” She is now worried for it. “Diyos ko!! Why did I lost it?? I am just reading that before the fight! I must have carried it with me! Oh Lord…” She is starting to worried more as she puts both her hands to her head and shaking.

“WASSS!!” Ludwig is disappointed to Perla. “I thought I could make sense out of you but… Arghhhh!!”

“It’s just a useless notebook! Why are you bothered? So what if she lost it?” Alfred defends Perla.

“That contains a lot of confidential things about our group! Can’t you think of the consequences, you idiot!!” Ludwig is now furious.

“I’ll just go back. It’s nearby.” Perla suggests.

“Don’t mind it already!” Alfred assures Perla of his support. “What can that useless effin- book can do with our mission, you By-the-book-sausage-freak?!” Alfred is also furious.

“H-hey! Stop that already! I said I’ll just find that manual, alright? Ludwig’s right. If someone picks that book up, we will be more exposed than ever. That’s why…” Perla guilt is now evident in her words. “I’m sorry Ludwig.”

Alfred and Ludwig stopped arguing. __It’s useless to argue.__  “If that’s the case, we won’t check-in to our hotel unless we find that notebook! C’mon!” Alfred wants to help Perla.

“How about we put out our baggage to the hotel first? We will just come back once we find that.” Ludwig, now back to his calm self, suggests.

“Sounds good to me!” Alfred agrees.

“By the way… where’s Feli?” Perla looks to her surroundings but the Northern Italian is not around.

“Huh? He’s here earlier…” Alfred points out Feliciano’s position, which is the right-side of Alfred’s.

“WASSSS?!! WHERE CAN THAT DUMMKOPF BEEE???!!!” Ludwig is freaking out. “Perla’s Manual and now him?!! This can be the __worst__  thing that could happen in a mission!!!”

“Yo! Don’t be a such worrywart! Let’s just find both alright? HAHAHA!!” Alfred is strangely calm and he is  amused on Ludwig’s worrier attitude.

“Yeah… and where can we find him? Now we are worrying about two things…” Perla let’s her sigh come out. “Come on! He could still be nearby!”

“Right!” Both boys agreed. They left their bags to their hotel first before heading again to Ponte dell’Academia to look for Feli and Perla’s manual.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Tom! You’re too slow! Hurry!” Gio shouts from afar as they wanted to reach Ponte dell’Academia as soon as possible.

“What’s the rush you punk?!” Tom, as always, complains while panting.

“We have to be there as fast as possible. We can’t afford to lost track to our __clue__. I bet the old man and the others are there now.” Gio reasons out.

“Alright. Alright. Don’t pressure me! I’m not as fast as you are!” Tom knows his physical limitations but Gio seems to push it for him. Although both of them are fit, Tom’s stamina fails him all the time.

“Here we are! Hey! Old man!!” Gio sees a familiar figure from afar while running towards them. They also saw some people gathering around but apparently they are being limited by a barricade tape near the bridge.

“Hey! Can you run slower Gio?!!” Tom is still far away to Gio.

“Gio! Tom! There you are!” The Italian saw them already. “As always, you are so slow, Tom! You’re embarrassing yourself to Rinna! HAHAHAHA!!”

“Shut up you old useless geezer!!” Tom can’t take that joke even from afar.

“Hey! Old man! Good thing you’re here!” Gio is quite delighted.

“ _ _Si__. Someone from our location told us about the incident earlier.” The Italian is very keen to this clue.

“It’s no surprise. Knowing you.” Gio correctly predicts the outcome.

“Well, we also knew you are going here. Everybody in Venice talks about it.” Rinna told them.

“So, what did you get so far?” Gio goes to business already.

“<Panting> Can’t…. you…. wait for me…. for once….” Tom is evidently panting. He can’t quite catch up with Gio until now.

“Here’s water for you.” Rinna gives her bottle of water to Tom. His face becomes redder.

“T-th-anks R-rinna” Tom grabs the water and drinks it as fast as he could. He can’t control his obvious infatuation.

“Someone will have a victory dance later.” The Italian teases him more.

“S-shut up!!” Tom quickly embarrassed himself.

“Anyways, what’s the gist here?” Gio wants to go to the business already.

“As we all know, there was an incident a few hours ago which involves some explosion to the Grand Canal earlier near here and it created big waves. The good thing is no one is injured. Only some gondolas were affected.” Rinna carefully explains.

“What kind of explosion cause that?” Gio asks her for more.

“We don’t know exactly… Some say it’s a grenade but a grenade explosion would not create such waves…. Some say it’s a detonated bomb but there is no evidence of any debris.”

“That’s odd. It can’t be those 2.” Gio doesn’t buy those suspicions.

“I know... What could be the cause of such waves?” Rinna asks.

“It could be __those people.__ ” The Italian simply says.

“Hey! We don’t have any proof for that you old geezer!” Tom retaliates quickly against the Italian claims.

“But there’s more to that story alone.” Rinna opens another topic. Everyone faces her. “There’s also a fight happened.”

“What kind of fight?” Tom asks.

“Well, according to some witnesses, a cloaked guy is fighting with a woman. But they are allegedly not local here. I suspect these are tourists.” Rinna adds.

“Hmmm… tourists? Two tourists fighting?” Gio is quite confused.

“But its not that a simple ‘I don’t like you, you don’t like me’ fights. According to them, there was also a smaller explosion happened here.”

“Smaller explosion? Must be a granade..” Gio thinks.

“I don’t think that the case though.” Rinna debunks Gio’s theory. “If it were a granade, the bridge could be a bit destroyed. But its not.”

“To have that kind of fight, what could be the cause?” Tom asks.

“No one really knows so far. Additionally, some informants told me that there is a Vaporetti nearby and there were 2 men atop of it.”

“A hostage taking scenario? Arghhh!!! It doesn’t add up!!!” Tom is impatient for clues.

“Yeah. That can’t be a hostage scenario. There’s more to it than that.” Gio adds. “Those guys I asked earlier said that there were __powerful guys__  there.”

“THEY MUST BE THOSE PEOPLE!!!” The Italian exclaims. People nearby are glaring at him. They are clearly annoyed and confused at the same time.

“Hey Old Man! SHUT THE HELL UP!!” Tom can’t take anymore of the Italian’s stupidity.

“Oh dear…” Rinna sighs.

“The Old Man might be right… But we have to look for more clear clues from here.” Gio reasons out. Suddenly, Tom and the Italian stopped their argument and looked on him. The Italian is clearly delighted to Gio on agreeing to his suspicion.

“What can I say? I definitely trained you right!” The Italian, out of his happiness, hugs Gio so tight.

“HEY! YOU’RE EMBARRASSING ME HERE!!” Gio blushes and retaliates. People around them are still glaring to them.

“Old Man, where’s Orsino?” Tom noticed.

“Huh? Oh him? He said he will ask for more information so he looked around somewhere for that.” The Italian tells to Tom while still hugging Gio.

“Hmmm… Well, at least he is doing his job. AND UNLIKE YOU, YOU ARE CREEPING ME OUT, YOU IDIOT OLD MAN!” Gio doesn’t appreciate another man’s hug.

“Everyone!” All of them looked to a person while that person walk towards them.

“Oh here comes the big guy…” Tom refers to Orsino. Tom doesn’t seem to be happy with it.

“Where have you been?” The Italian happily asks.

“Oh I just went to the plaza nearby to look for more clues and look what I found.” Orsino get something from his bag and then he got a light-blue colored booklet.

“What’s that?” Gio asks.

“It’s says ‘UNPSF’s Manual of Operations’” Orsino tells them.

“UNPSF? This is the first time I heard it.”

“Yeah… No Kidding…” Tom sarcastically agrees.

“UN? As in United Nations?” Rinna trying to get some clues on it.

“Looks like it. The logo resembles to that of UN.” Gio keenly observes. “Well, let’s loo-”

Suddenly, A hand takes the manual from Orsino’s hand and it quickly slips out from his hand then the mysterious thief runs away.

“Huh? Where’s the notebook?!!” Tom can’t believe that the manual is gone so fast. All of them are shocked by this.

The journalists are now in trouble of retrieving that manual from a mysterious thief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW AFTER XXX YEARS, I FINALLY GOT AN UPDATE FOR YOU GUYS!!!
> 
> The chase begins... Who catches who? Who is the mysterious thief? Is it Feliciano? or some other guy?
> 
> And Perla got her own battle! What do you think of her powers and techniques? Leave your comments below!
> 
> This will be one heck of a ride so kindly let me know your thoughts in the comments below! Any suggestion will be welcomed as always! :) (Smile)
> 
> Translations will be done later... or just ask me in the comments below...
> 
> Some notes:  
> 1\. Vaporetto - a water bus used as a mode of transportation around Venice since the city is surrounded by water. For more information: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporett…  
> 2\. There is an ongoing independence movement in Veneto Region (in which Venice is located) to revive the old Venetian Republic in which it has been existent from 697 to 1797. They also held a referendum last March 2014 although this is done thru an online plebiscite and unofficial. For more details: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice_R… and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice_r…  
> 3\. Liga Veneto Lega Nord is a regionalist political party based in Veneto, Italy. The said party, which combines Venetian nationalism and support for fiscal federalism, was the first party of its kind in Northern Italy, predating Umberto Bossi's Lega Lombarda by four years, and was a founding member of Lega Nord in 1991. Since then, Liga Veneta has been a "national" section of the federal party, thus retaining legal status and some autonomy. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…  
> 4\. Siniwali/Arnis/Eskrima is the National Martial Arts of the Philippines. It usually emphasizes the use of stick (single or double) for battle although knives, swords, long guns and even bare hands can be used. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnis  
> 5\. Anting-anting is a Filipino word for "Amulet" or "Charm". Anting-anting is also a Filipino system of magic and sorcery with special use of the above-mentioned talismans, amulets, and charms. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agimat
> 
> I hope you will stick around for more! Like always, kindly put your feedback, suggestions and any clarifications in the comments if you have any. Enjoy! :) (Smile)


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